Cognizant said on Tuesday it will invest $200 million by the end of 2008 to set up centres across the country.

"We will spend $200 million (about Rs 800 crore) to build techno-complexes in Chennai, Coimbatore, Hyderabad and Kolkata," Cognizant President and Managing Director R Chandrasekaran told reporters.

The campuses, to be spread over total three million square feet area, would have capacity for over 30,000 employees, he said.

The present Cognizant employee strength is around 44,000. The Nasdaq-listed company would be investing 46 million dollars (Rs 188 crore) to expand infrastructure in Kolkata.

"The investment will go into the second fully-owned techno-complex to be spread over 500,000 sq ft in Phase 1 to accommodate about 4,000 professionals when completed," he said. The Rs 188 crore (about $46 million) investment of the first phase of expansion would be utilised on land acquisition, construction of facilities and furnishing.

It was expected to be completed by end-2008. The company already has a centre in Kolkata. The new fully-owned techno-complex was coming up on 20 acre at Bantala, a Special Economic Zone designated area.