Uncertainty holds up Wipro's Atlanta plan

Bangalore, Nov 1 (IANS) Plans of Indian IT bellwether Wipro Ltd to open a software development centre at Atlanta in the US are on hold due to the global meltdown and uncertainty in the economic environment, a company spokesperson said Saturday.

"As the Atlanta centre is a new initiative, it is taking more time to draw customers' attention due to uncertainty in the environment. We are not shying away from what we plan to do in Atlanta, but it is taking more time than expected given this scenario," the spokesperson told IANS.

The Bangalore-based firm decided to set up the Atlanta centre this fiscal to develop software onsite and run back-office work for some US clients keen on doing onshore for data privacy and security reasons.

Confirming the delay, Wipro's America unit chief financial officer Sridhar Ramasubbu told reporters in the US late Friday that though the commitment to open the Atlanta operation was there, the rollout was taking time in the face of economic uncertainty.

Wipro chairman Azim Premji recently admitted the global economic environment had deteriorated significantly over the past couple of months.

"Our outlook is cautious in the near term given the extent of strain on the global economy," Premji said in a statement Oct 22, projecting a flat sequential growth in the third quarter (October-December) of this fiscal from IT business.

Wipro gave a revenue guidance of $1.21 billion from its global IT services business as against $1.11 billion posted in the second quarter this fiscal.