Larsen and Toubro Infotech (LTI) on Friday inaugurated its new operations centre in Calcutta after the city emerged as a top choice among its employees as an expansion location.

The company’s new centre located at Merlin Infinite in Salt Lake Sector V will start with around 350 employees with a capability to house around 500-600 employees through a hybrid work model.

The company however has further plans to expand its workforce and is contemplating additional space as it looks to have around 1000-1500 employees in the Calcutta centre by the end of 2022-23.

“Calcutta was right at the top (for expansion) among our employees. We have already received around 250 requests for transfer to Calcutta from different centres and there are also additional offers for new jobs in the city,” Nachiket Deshpande, chief operating officer, LTI, told The Telegraph.

Deshpande said that a combination of industry-academia ecosystem coupled with improving infrastructure and employee preference had played a crucial role in Calcutta emerging as an expansion location for LTI.

LTI said in a statement that the opportunity to expand in the eastern region was to address the increasing demand for satellite workplaces.

The company is encouraging new ways of working and Deshpande said that the hybrid work model has allowed employers to broaden the hiring outreach and remain location agnostic. Another L&T group company Mindtree in March announced its expansion in Calcutta with around 1,000 employees.

Subsequently, in May, parent Larsen and Toubro announced the merger of the two IT arms of the group which could result in a headcount of around 2500-3000 in Calcutta over the next 2-3 years.

As of March 31, 2022, L&T had a headcount of 46,648 with a revenue of $2102 million.