This facility has been set up to support ICICI Infotech's plans for global expansion. In the first phase, the company plans to expand to the US, European, Middle-Eastern and Australian markets. V.Srinivasan, managing director & CEO, ICICI Infotech, said during the inauguration last week, "In the course of the next couple of years, we expect our overseas business to be around 50-60 per cent of our total turnover. We have earmarked a considerable percentage of our projected annual turnover to facilitate this process."

ICICI Infotech has invested a total of Rs 20 crore in setting up the new offshore development facility. This capacity is in addition to the existing hundred thousand square feet development unit at Mahalaxmi, Mumbai. The company aims to recruit about 250 software developers to work at its facility, shortly. The existing developers have already begun work on an offshore development project for System Access, Singapore. The company's global business projections expect to shortly use up the entire capacity at the STP in view of the large export orders anticipated within the year.

The STP's strategic location, feels ICICI Infotech, offers it several advantages. VSNL's International Gateway as well as the MTNL telephone exchange are located in the same complex. Mr. Srinivasan pointed out, "The trend in software exports is increasingly in favour of offshore development largely due to the improvement in data communications infrastructure globally as well as in India. Even with a 12-hour time difference with India, high-speed datacom links can provide clients across the world with a virtual 24-hour office environment. Our global expansion plans make it necessary for us to avail of the optimal quality of 100 per cent uptime international communications. The presence of VSNL's International Gateway and the MTNL exchange in the same complex provides us with this edge."

ICICI Infotech was established in September 1999. ICICI Infotech Services Ltd. is a wholly owned subsidiary of ICICI Ltd. It was formed by consolidating the software and other IT personnel from across the group companies along with a large number of domain experts under the ICICI Infotech banner. The company's business operations cut across end-to-end solutions in software development and consultancy for the banking and finance industry; e-commerce and web-enabled services across verticals and IT-enabled services. ICICI Infotech has already been awarded the ISO 9001 and IQ Net certifications by Standards Australia.