Birlasoft, a unit of the $1.5-billion C K Birla group on Thursday opened a software development centre in Chennai. The firm has similar centres in Noida and Melbourne.

According to C K Birla, the group chairman, Chennai was favoured over Bangalore and Hyderabad, because the city has "great potential".

"Chennai has better infrastructure and the talent availability is more here compared to many other places," said Birla.

Birlasoft was launched in New Jersey in 1992 with just nine employees where GE Capital made the major equity investment.

Its revenue in 1992 was $0.3 million. After 11 years, it has grown to a $73-million company with 1500 employees spread around the world, with sales and marketing offices in the United States, Europe, Australia, Middle East, the United Kingdom, Singapore and India.

Stating that Birlasoft has invested $5 million in the Chennai software development centre and recruited 100 employees, Atanu Banerji, the firms' chief executive officer, said that the number will rise to 600 by the end of the year as "Chennai is the cradle of engineering education."

The technology solutions provided by the Chennai centre will cater to industries such as banking and financial services, retail, manufacturing, healthcare and utilities all around the world.

The Chennai centre will also act as a disaster recovery and business continuity site for the Noida Centre, C K Birla said.

Atanu Banerji informed that Birlasoft has grown 36 per cent last year and the revenue of the company in the year 2002-03 was $73 million.

"National Association of Software and Service Companies has ranked us 15th in the list of the top twenty software companies in India. Our performance and growth have to be viewed against a backdrop of a global economic slowdown inclusive of the IT services sector. Our growth is thus comparable to the growth rates of the best IT companies in India," Banerji said.