California-headquartered global digital technology consulting firm CriticalRiver plans to expand its footprint in India by investing $25 million as well as raising the headcount, from 550 at present in the country, to 10,000 over the next five years.
In doing so, the firm intends to maintain focus on strengthening its operations in Hyderabad while also evaluating tier-II locations in many States, including Warangal in Telangana, for new offices.
Speaking to media after Industries and IT Secretary Jayesh Ranjan inaugurated its Centre for Digital Innovation, a 350-seater facility, here on Tuesday, founder and CEO Anji R. Maram said Hyderabad remains crucial to the firm’s operations and accounts for a headcount of 450, a number that includes employees working in a hybrid mode and consultants.
The new, additional space taken will help CriticalRiver, which has been in Hyderabad for over four years, consolidate presence. For future expansion, it will be exploring Uppal primarily to tap into talent available in that part of the city and benefit from the incentives the State government provides – as a measure to decongest western parts -- to firms setting up facilities in northern and eastern parts of the city.
Over the next five years, the company, which offers digitally- led services for CRM, ERP, Cloud Applications, Integration, Business Intelligence, Data Analytics, and Software Engineering Solutions, expects its office space in Hyderabad to more than double to 70,000 sq ft. The number is 32,000 sq ft at present.
The global headcount of the firm is 850 and in India it has relatively smaller facilities offices in Jaipur and Bengaluru. Visakhapatnam and Indore are other cities it is considering for new facilities.
