A LEADING INDIAN technology firm has announced it will create 80 jobs as it sets up a new software delivery centre in Dublin.

HCL Technologies hopes to win contracts in the financial services, insurance, healthcare and pharmaceutical industries with the new facility. The company, which employs more than 85,000 people in 31 countries, said the “growing economy” for IT services in Ireland and rapid increases in demand were behind its decision to locate here.

It also cited the availability of highly skilled workers and strong graduate programmes. The jobs will be created over the next three years.

Minister for Jobs and Enterprise Richard Bruton today welcomed the news, and said he had met with HCL during a recent trade trip to India. He said:

The real economic success story of Ireland in the mid/late 1990s was based in part on tapping into the global IT boom going on at that time. If we are to get out of the crisis we’re in and create the jobs we so badly need, a key part of that will be to build on our established strengths and once again now take advantage of the rapid growth in the global IT industry.

Rajeev Sawhney, president of HCL Europe, said the IDA had been “instrumental” in the firm’s decision to locate in Dublin, adding: “I would like to acknowledge and thank the assistance of the IDA teams in Mumbai and Dublin.”