HCL America ties up with US company to set up centre; create 300 jobs

HCL America, a unit of HCL Technologies today said it has partnered with US's fourth largest electric and natural gas company, Consumers Energy, to set up a centre in Michigan, creating 300 job opportunities.

As part of the agreement, HCL expects to hire local technology professionals and create 300 professional technology positions during phase one, HCL said in a statement.

The agreement will significantly increase Michigan's IT capacity, while improving employment prospects for IT graduates from Michigan universities and colleges, it added.

"HCL will invest in developing the next-generation workforce in Michigan by creating high-quality jobs in the industry and the region," HCL Technologies Corporate Vice President Rajeev Sawhney said.

The centre will also establish a learning academy to train Consumers Energy employees on advanced and emerging technologies, and will be further expanded to accommodate 500 technology professionals in the next few years.

This will help Consumers Energy's IT department to leverage HCL's software solutions expertise to manage its existing operations, it said.

"Our company is making this important investment to provide our employees with new IT skills to work on high value projects and technologies that will prepare our company for the future," Consumers Energy Vice President and Chief Information Officer Mamatha Chamarthi said.

HCL has been investing in increasing capacity in the US. Through this agreement and partnerships with other anchor customers in New York, North Carolina, Texas and the state of Washington, HCL is pooling resources to increase job creation in the local communities of its US operations.

HCL is said to be working closely with University of Washington, Seattle University, University of North Texas, University of West Florida, Oregon State University, among others, to recruit graduates.