The announcement was made as the Prime Minister met Indian government officials and high-ranking business executives alongside a delegation including Atkins’ CEO, Professor Dr Uwe Krueger, who is accompanying the UK trade mission.
The design centre, located in Gurgaon in the state of Haryana, is due to be officially inaugurated by UK Government Trade & Investment Minister Lord Green of Hurstpierpoint tomorrow. It has capacity for 375 people, complementing the 1,000 engineers already working in Atkins’ Bangalore centre, which opened in 1998. It is anticipated that the new centre will be fully open by April 2013.
Cameron said: “It’s great to see Atkins expanding its business in India with the opening of a new design centre near Delhi. This demonstrates how Britain’s world-class expertise in design and engineering can help British businesses to succeed in fast growing markets like India.”
Krueger added: “Atkins celebrates its 75th anniversary this year and while we are a British success story this is further evidence of our increasing worldwide footprint. The Indian market gives us access to a wealth of experienced engineers which is vital for a company such as ours as we often need to assemble high calibre design teams to support international work very quickly. This can be demanding but having over 1000 people in India gives us a deep pool of additional talent upon which we can always rely. Our Gurgaon centre is a natural extension of that and it will boost our ability to confidently respond to any challenge with innovation, excellence and cost-effective solutions.”
The company said that opening a second Indian office in the National Capital Region, on the outskirts of Delhi, assists all of Atkins’ regions by providing access to a fresh pool of experienced English-speaking engineers capable of working to the highest international standards. Atkins added that the time zone difference is also beneficial as it extends the effective working day as engineering teams hand over to each other. The UK business, which currently has 1000 vacancies and strong work in hand, will benefit in particular from the ability to use the Indian centres to support work being delivered in the UK and internationally.
Engineers based in Gurgaon will initially cover sectors including water, transportation, utilities and information support.
Atkins’ Indian operation is part of the company’s Asia Pacific region which celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2013.
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