Software co to recruit 300-400 engrs at city unit

Nagpur: Leading software developer Persistent Systems Limited plans to expand operations by recruiting about 300-400 engineers at its Infotech Park unit here. Over 1,200 engineers, mostly from Nagpur, are already working with the unit which celebrated its 15th anniversary on Saturday.
An elated chairman and managing director Anand Deshpande told TOI, “We basically recruit computer engineers having specialization in software development. We work across all platforms like Java or C++. Our current facility can accommodate 300-400 more engineers, so we will first fill up these positions.”

When the city was not in limelight, Persistent was the first company to set up the centre here in 2003 with just seven employees. Today, the company is having centres at places like Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Kuala Lumpur, Colombo, Zurich, Munich and Israel.

“I preferred Nagpur because of my roots are attached with this city. My father grew up in Nagpur and even my in-laws stay here,” said Deshpande, who is BTech (Hons) in computer science and engineering from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur, and MS and PhD in computer science from Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, USA.

Deshpande said they had plans to acquire more space in IT Park for future expansion. There are no plans as of now to invest in Mihan or SEZ. “Nagpur is our second biggest development centre after Pune. Our state-of-the-art green building is already big to accommodate more graduates. We would like to have all campuses on the same premises. Even the workforce here is one of the best in the world. The city is fast emerging as a major investment destination with slew of projects coming up,” he said.

Started in 1990, the company converted into a public limited in 2007 and was listed in 2010 on the stock market. “We regularly hire students from renowned colleges like Visvesvaraya National Institute of technology, Ramdeobaba and Yashwantrao Chavan engineering colleges. With institutions like Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) coming up in city, it would produce national level students for IT companies.”

Earlier, the company commemorated the occasion with weeklong celebrations at the city centre with a special event inviting government-industry-academia. The city centre also got a new head in Rohit Bhargav after Shailesh Wadhankar passed on the baton to him. Chief people’s officer Samir Bendre, along with event chairperson Sonali and Anand Deshpande attended the programme held at company’s Kavikulguru Kalidas Auditorium.

“We were naturally nervous about opening what would be the first non-Nagpur based IT company, but the trust of our employees and help from government in our incubational years made this journey possible,” Bendre said.

Outlining the works undertaken as corporate social responsibility by Persistent Solutions, Sonali said, “Under CSR, 1-2% of our yearly profit goes to Persistent Foundation, a not-for-profit organization set up in 2009 to carry our social work as a way of giving back to the society. Through this, we have been working towards providing education to girls by granting them scholarships and upgrading school infrastructure.”

She said, “We have also helped financially weaker people with support to perform surgeries on their children with facial clefts and provided Jaipur foot to physically disabled. Our foundation has also helped visually impaired people in setting up an incense production unit to encourage self-sufficiency. It is heart-warming to be part of the institution and carry out such reformative works,” she said.