BENGALURU / MUMBAI: United States-based IT services provider Cognizant has acquired 22 acre land at Bagalur in Bengaluru from pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca PharmaBSE 0.96 % India for about Rs 175 crore, two people with knowledge of the matter said. The company is planning to set up a research and development centre on this land, the people said.
The New Jersey headquartered company has 10 delivery centres in India and this will be its first R&D centre in the country. "The transaction was concluded recently and the money will be paid in tranches," said one of the persons. Cognizant declined to comment on the development, as did AstraZeneca Pharma.
Cognizant, which reported a turnover of about $10.26 billion in 2014, has been expanding its presence in India over the past few years. In one of the largest occupier lease transactions in the country, in April 2013 it had taken 230,000 sq ft of office space through a 12-year lease agreement at K Raheja Corp's IT SEZ in Navi Mumbai's Airoli locality. The company's employee strength in India is about 70% of its total headcount.
It has about 50 development centres across the world. The deal comes at a time when many organisations are snapping up large spaces for consolidation and future expansion at competitive rates being offered by developers.
Total absorption of Grade A office space was 8.5 million sq ft during the quarter to March, 20% more than a year ago, and technology sector accounted for nearly 70% of that, according to property advisory firm Cushman & Wakefield. Bengaluru, Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune showed led the charts in increase in office space absorption.
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