Mahindra Group To Invest $1 Billion Across Various Sectors

New York: The Mahindra Group will invest $1 billion across various sectors, including in the IT field, in the US over the next five years, doubling its overall investment as part of its "very aggressive" business plans.

Tech Mahindra will also double its local hiring in the country. IT major Tech Mahindra plans to hire around 2,200 people in the US this year, same as last year.

He said the group has so far invested $1 billion across sectors in the US and in the next five years the diversified Indian group will double that investment, adding a billion dollars to its various businesses.

Mahindra and Mahindra Managing Director Pawan Goenka also announced that the Mahindra Group plans to invest $1 billion across sectors in the US in the next five years, doubling its overall investment in the country so far.

"Our future plans in the US continue to be very aggressive. Over the next five years we hope to double our investment we have in the US," Goenka said.

Goenka also touched upon the H1-B visa issue.

Tech Mahindra has been in the news in the US quite a bit lately over the H1-B visa issue. It is perhaps a little misunderstood on what the Indian IT companies mean for the US, Goenka said.

"Lots of people see it as taking away US jobs. The Indian IT companies and Tech Mahindra are creating US jobs and not taking away US jobs," Goenka told a group of reporters here yesterday.

Tech Mahindra President - Strategic Verticals Lakshmanan Chidambaram said the Indian IT company has had a presence in the US for over a decade, with two billion dollars in revenues and 6,000 employees in the US.

"We are also hiring from 25 US institutions with whom we have a very strong relationship. This hiring has been happening over a period of fours years now. We bring in fresh graduates, train them and bring them in the workforce in the US," Chidambaram said.

Responding to a question by PTI on whether the company is realigning its policies amid the Donald Trump administration's tough stance on immigration and H1B work visas, Chidambaram said certain bills for reforming the H1B visa progarmme are being introduced in the US, but "they will have to go through the whole process".

A bill that was introduced never came out the way it was introduced.

He added that at the moment, Tech Mahindra's focus has been on investing in its development centers.

"More than the H-1B, the focus is what is happening with the whole digital revolution that is taking place," Chidambaram said, adding that the IT platforms are forcing the companies to think in a different way.

"Certain situations bring the best out in people," he said.

Goenka added that the projected investment amount could go up significantly if the company is able to win a contract it is bidding for with the US Postal Service for replacing its fleet of postal vehicles.

"One big ticket item if that happens this number will go up. We are bidding for a contract with the US Postal Service for replacing its fleet of postal vehicles," he said.

On the employment front, Goenka said the company currently employs 3,000 local people in the US and it is estimated that this number will grow up to 7,000 in the next five years.

The IT major currently employs 2300 people in the US and this number will go up to 5000 in the next five years.

The company said the local hiring in the US will be separate from the H1B visa holder that it employs for technology work in the country.

Goenka underscored that the hiring plans are in place not due to the recent policy announcements in the Donald Trump administration but that the company had planned to increase local hiring even before the new US administration's plans.

"We hope to double the local employment that we have in the US, increase our presence through more development centers and manufacturing locations and build our brand," he said.

The Mahindra  brand is reasonably well known in the US "but we need to do a lot more work and focus a lot on building the brand over the years," he said adding that the US is a very important market for the company, the second  largest after India.

The company has a revenue of about $2.6 billion out of US which is more than 10 per cent of Mahindra's global revenue.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)