Sonia opens Infosys's new centre in Mysore

Congress president Sonia Gandhi inaugurated Infosys's Global Education Center-II at its Mysore campus on Tuesday.

Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa and Leader of the Opposition, Karnataka State Legislative Assembly, Siddaramaiah were also present on the occasion.

Given its infrastructure and size of operations, Infosys Global Education Center is the largest corporate education centre in the world.

Located at the 337-acre Infosys Mysore campus, the total capacity of the centre has been enhanced to educate 14,000 (GEC I: 4,500 and GEC II: 9,500) Infoscions.

The total investment made by Infosys in the Mysore centre is Rs 2,055 crore (Rs 20.55 billion) of which Rs 350 crore (Rs 3.5 billion) has been invested in the construction of software development blocks and related services and Rs 1,705 crore (Rs 17.05 billion) on education- and training-related infrastructure.

Sonia Gandhi lights the lamp, while (From L to R) Sudha Murthy, wife of Narayana Murthy; Chief Minister of Karnataka, B S Yeddyurappa; Leader of the Opposition, Karnataka State Legislative Assembly, Siddaramaiah; Infosys chief mentor N R Narayana Murthy applaud. Infosys CEO Kris Gopalakrishnan is standing behind Mrs Gandhi.

Photograph: KPN Photos

Speaking on the occasion, N R Narayana Murthy, chairman and chief mentor of Infosys, said, "We are honoured to have Mrs Sonia Gandhi inaugurate Infosys's new Global Education Center.

"The Education Center is a testimony to Infosys's commitment to building the competency of our employees. In 2008-09, more than 16,000 new entrants were trained here, and in this financial year around 16,000 more are expected to be trained through this programme," Murthy said.

"In addition, special programmes have been conducted at the GEC for students from Australia, Bhutan, China, Columbia, Japan, Malaysia, Mauritius, Panama, Thailand, the United Kingdom and the United States," he added.

With a total built-up area of 1.44 million sq. ft, the Infosys GEC I and II have 147 training rooms, 485 faculty rooms, 42 conference rooms, five assessment halls, an induction hall, a cyber cafe and two state-of-the-art libraries which can house over 140,000 books.

With a built-up area of 440,735 sq ft., GEC I has 52 training rooms, 183 faculty rooms and a state of art library that can accommodate 60,000 books.

The Global Education Centre which was inaugurated on Tuesday has a built up area of 1,002,095 sq. ft. GEC II has eighty-four 100-seater, three 200-seater, six 60-seater and two 36-seater class rooms; 5 examination halls and 302 faculty rooms.

It also has an induction hall which can seat 400 trainees, state-of-the-art library which can accommodate 80,000 books, MC room with a capacity of 40 seats with acoustically designed walls.

The seating capacity of the cyber cafe is 236. There are seven food courts that can cater to approximately 10,871 people at any given time.

These multi-cuisine food courts offer various cuisines ranging from South Indian to continental.