No land recovery from Kenexa unit

By SNV Sudhir

Visakhapatnam, Dec 6, 2012: In a much relief to the top executives of US based Kenexa Corp’s Indian arm, Kenexa Technologies Pvt Ltd (KTPL), minister for ports, infrastructure and investments, Ganta Srinivasa Rao assured them postponement of the modification of the lease deed with Kenexa Corp which was acquired by global IT giant IBM.

KTPL managing director, Rahuveer Sakuru and director, Aneeta Sakuru waged a legal battle with their US parent over its decision to handover an approximate 21 acres of land it was allotted by the APIIC after it was slapped a penalty of Rs 81 cr for not complying with the agreement of providing ‘promised’ employment.

With IBM backtracked on paying the penalty, Kenexa Corp decided to handover 21 of the 25 acres allotted to it by APIIC through its Indian arm KTPL. And IBM reportedly not keen on expanding its operations at Madhurawada IT SEZ,  and willing to handover the remaining land than that where a building of KTPL stands, the local top executives who were not willing to part with the land had approached court in Hyderabad challenging Kenexa Corp’s decision.

It was KTPL not Kenexa Corp that reached land lease agreement with APIIC in 2008.

Meanwhile, the APIIC officials too wanted to restore the land from KTPL after serving several notices since March this year. KTPL, however, sought an extension for some more time to convince IBM to expand its business so that land is not needed to be returned.

“We want IT sector to grow in Vizag after Hyderabad that’s the reason why we have been striving hard to restore the land. Due to various reasons globally IT sector had witnessed a downturn since a few years. It had just started reviving which will help us in providing more jobs at Vizag. We need some more time. For us minister’s assurance is a positive development” KTPL director, Aneeta Sakuru told this correspondent.

She added that taking back lands from IT companies will only leave a negative impression on Tier II cities, especially Vizag, which has a tremendous future ahead.

Ganta Srinivasa Rao directed the APIIC officials to temporarily postpone the decision to take back the land and also decided to hold a meeting with the executives of IBM to convince them to expand its operations in the already allotted land for KTPL.