Sonia Gandhi heaps praise on Infosys, calls it better than world's best

While inaugurating the Global Education Centre-II (GEC-II) of India's second largest software exporter in Mysore on Tuesday, Gandhi, who is the chairperson of the ruling coalition government, said Infosys was a stunning reminder of what Indian talent, ingenuity, competence and hard work could accomplish.

According to Gandhi, Infosys has proved that not only Indian companies could match with the world's best but at times were far ahead of them.

"It's a pleasure to be on this beautiful campus. It has a marvellous setting for a university to train and educate young minds," Gandhi said.

"Infosys is synonymous with making Bangalore India's Silicon Valley. Coming up of GEC is testimony that India too can have world-class education centres. Success of the Infosys is because of its hard work, dedication, willing to sacrifice attitude, coupled with talent and an enabling environment at the company.," she added.

Gandhi also complimented Infosys mentor N.R. Narayana Murthy and his team for changing the lives of millions of Indians and propelling the country's economy to a record-breaking growth and making Infosys the envy of the world. "You have shown to India and the world that an Indian company cannot just be world class, but be ahead of the rest of the world," she said.

Gandhi also said the government too made a difference by providing an enabling environment for the growth of the information technology sector in the country.

"It is hard to remember when India was not wired to the world but it was Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru who built temples of modern learning and this was followed by the vision of Rajiv Gandhi who realised the potential of communication and provided telephone connections to villages. There was bitter opposition to the introduction of computers as well, but he persisted and his greatest contribution was changing the mindset which resulted in the emergence of Bangalore as the silicon valley of India," Gandhi said.

Earlier, Murthy said that when Infosys was launched in 1981, the founders' belief was that poverty could be eliminated from India only through the power of entrepreneurship.

Infosys was a testimony to that conviction as it had emerged as a model for responsible and transparent business. Visible signs of progress should also be reflected in infrastructure and hence Infosys decided to build the largest single structure in India, he said.

"The Education Centre is a testimony of Infosys' commitment to building the competency of our employees. In 2008-09, more than 16,000 new entrants were trained, and this financial year around 16,000 more are expected to be trained through this program. In addition, special programs have been conducted at the GEC for students from Australia, Bhutan, China, Columbia, Japan, Malaysia, Mauritius, Panama, Thailand, UK and the US," Murthy said.

The GEC-II, located on the sprawling 337 acres Infosys campus in Mysore, has been constructed at a cost of Rs.350 crore. It is the largest single structure to be constructed in post-Independent India with a built-up area of more than 10 lakh sq. ft and can accommodate 9500 trainees in one sitting. Designed by architect Hafiz Contractor and built by Sobha Developers, the facility has seven blocks with eighty four 100-seater, three 200-seater, six 60-seater classrooms, five examination halls and 301 faculty rooms. It also has an induction hall that can seat 300 trainees, a library that can accommodate 80,000 books.

The facility is an extension of the IT major's Global Education Centre (GEC), which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in February 2005.

Combining the two, Infosys can now train 14,000 new recruits at the same time, company officials said. Given its infrastructure and size of operations, GEC is the largest corporate education centre in the world, they said.

The GEC, which offers hostel facility, imparts generic and stream-specific training in various technology areas to fresh engineering graduates joining the company. The facility is also used to train employees in continuing education in technology and management skills, the officials added.

Infosys' Mysore campus is also one of the largest in India. It boasts of 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 food.

In keeping with Infosys' focus on all-round development, the campus provides fitness and recreation facilities for Infoscions including a large gymnasium, badminton and squash courts, table tennis, pool and snooker tables, an aerobics centre, a swimming pool, a Jacuzzi, a bowling alley, a rock climbing wall, a meditation hall, and an eight-lane bowling alley.

The campus also has a cricket ground of international standards, a football ground with an eight-lane athletics track, two basketball courts, one volleyball court and eight tennis courts with a synthetic surface.

The key highlight of the Mysore campus, however, is its multiplex and auditorium complex. The main auditorium in this complex has a seating capacity of 1056 seats and three 145-seater multiplex theatres.

Shares of Infosys Technologies closed 2.10 percent higher at Rs.2317.65 at the Bombay Stock Exchange on Wednesday.