IT major Cognizant has put for sale, its Chennai property which currently serves as its India headquarters, the Times of India reported, adding that the company may use its MEPZ campus near Tambaram on GST Road as its headquarters after potentially vacating the current one by December, 2024.
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What is the history of Cognizant’s current headquarters and where is it located?
The property located at Okkiyam, Thoraipakkam on OMR, has been Conizant’s India headquarters for over two decades and it is also the same property from where Lakshmi Narayanan and Chandrasekaran, the two co-founders of Cognizant operated from.
It was also from this campus, the landmark event of Cognizant remotely ringing the Nasdaq opening bell was held.
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The property comprises of a 15-acre land parcel and four lakh sq ft office space on Chennai’s IT Corridor and is expected to fetch the IT giant at least ₹750-800 crore.
Why is Cognizant selling its current Chennai headquarters?
The move is arises out of the company’s efforts to consolidate its operations in three of its own buildings at MEPZ, Sholinganallur and Siruseri.
So far, Cognizant has been giving up leased spaces across Chennai including prominent ones at Ramanujan IT Park, DLF as well as St Mary’s Road offices in R A Puram, according to the report.
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Cognizant has mandated international property advisory JLL to perform the sale and JLL has been talking with multiple prospective buyers including local developers such as the Baashyaam Group and Casagrand, but with nothing finalised so far, according to the report.
In April 19, 2024, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) of the Maharashtra Police registered an offence against Cognizant, infra giant Larsen & Toubro (L&T), and unknown government officials in an alleged $ 7,70,00 bribery case, accusing them of bribing local government officials to secure permits and environmental clearances for its Hinjawadi campus between 2013 and 2014, according to a PTI report.