Mumbai: Patni Computer Systems Ltd, (BSE: PATNI COMPUT, NSE: PATNI) ranked India''s 6th largest IT services company by NASSCOM, today announced its plans to expand operations in Chennai. As part of this initiative, Patni will set up a centre across 20 acres of acquired land in the Siruseri IT Park, promoted by State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu Ltd (SIPCOT).

Upon completion, the Rs450-crore centre will be Patni''s second-largest modern software development centre in India with a capacity to accommodate 10,000 professionals with all support services. An ISO 9001:2000 certified and SEI-CMMi Level 5 organization, assessed enterprise wide at P-CMM Level 3, Patni adopts Six Sigma practices as an integral part of its quality and process frameworks.

The proposed centre will add to Patni''s multiple delivery facilities in Anna Salai (Chennai), Bangalore, Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Pune, Gandhinagar and Noida. Designed by well-known architects, the phase 1 of the project will be completed in the first quarter of 2005 with an investment of approximately Rs60 crore; it will have a capacity to accommodate 1,200 professionals with top class working facilities.

Announcing the decision, P J Kutar, resident director-India, said, "At Patni, we are fully committed to delivering long term growth by continuously investing in physical infrastructure, domain capabilities and new service lines. Our current financial performance continues to exceed overall industry growth and the Chennai centre has played a crucial role in achieving this high pace of growth."

"The planned centre in Chennai will enable us to ramp up operations with our large clients in the growing verticals of financial services, manufacturing and insurance and become the preferred IT solution provider in these chosen verticals for all global IT outsourcers," he added. Patni Computer Systems Limited is a global IT Services provider servicing Global 2000 clients in the manufacturing, insurance, banking and financial services, retail, and energy and utilities industries. With a skilled employee strength of over 7,000, multiple offshore development facilities across six cities, and 22 international offices across the Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific; Patni has registered revenues in excess of US $250 million for the year 2003.

Patni''s technology focus spans e-business solutions, enterprise applications, embedded technology solutions and enterprise systems management. Its service offerings include application development and reengineering, application management and business process outsourcing.