"We are planning to make the Chennai centre a 'centre of excellence' for J2EE and .NET, which will focus on developing cutting edge applications for the manufacturing vertical," he said at the inauguration of the company's new facility at Chennai.

The new 35,000 sq ft facility at Chennai, which was inaugurated by the information technology secretary of the state, Vivek Harinarain, has been set up with an investment of Rs 7.5 crore (Rs 75 million) to house 350 people.

Over the last four quarters, the operating profit of the company grew from -2 per cent to +2 per cent, said Murthy. "We will be investing more in our facilities as part of our strategy to move towards a value-added intellectual property model."

"Availability of high quality technical resources and dedicated talent pool makes Chennai an ideal destination to develop a centre for manufacturing vertical," said chief delivery officer Mohan Sekhar.

iGate's 65,000 sq ft existing facility at Chennai currently employs around 500 people. It had so far invested about Rs 15 crore (Rs 150 million) in Chennai operations, including the Rs 7.5 crore invested in the new facility.