“The past ten years have proven that the Eastern Opening policy launched by the government in 2010 was a successful decision”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said on Friday at the official opening of the new Digital Competence Office of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), established in the interests of expanding the Budapest activities of the IT service provider.
500 new workplaces are being created at TCS’s new office in Budapest, to supplement the existing 2500 staff. Mr. Szijjártó highlighted that the role of the East within the global economy is continuously increasing: while in 2007, 81 percent of global investments were realised using Western capital and 17 percent from Eastern capital, by 2018, 58 percent was realised from Eastern capital, and more and more technological innovations are coming from the East. He emphasised that the investment record was broken in Hungary last year, and for the first time ever the largest volume of investment didn’t come from Germany, but from the East, from South Korea. He pointed out that some 60 percent of the foreign capital invested in Hungary last year came from the East, and that 40 percent of the new jobs created last year were provided by eastern enterprises.
Mr. Szijjártó told reporters that India, which is one of the determining countries of the global information technology revolution, is one of the most important target countries of the Eastern Opening policy. “Hungarian-Indian economic relations are active, the 40 major Indian enterprises currently operating in Hungary employ over 10 thousand people, and during the first ten months of last year bilateral trade flow exceeded 600 million dollars”, he added. The Minister pointed out that the investment by Tata Consultancy Services is contributing to the success of the dimensional transition of the Hungarian economy, and is providing opportunities for highly trained young Hungarians to achieve a dependable career. Mr. Szijjártó mentioned that Hungary is maintaining 4500 scholarship places for students from countries that are the targets of the Eastern Opening policy.
The Tata Group employs over 700 thousand people worldwide, and the Group realises an average turnover exceeding 100 billion dollars. “Tata Consultancy Services is India’s largest IT company, employing 450 thousand people in 50 countries around the world, and is Asia’s leading software development company and service provider. In Hungary, 2500 young people work for Tata Consultancy Services in Budapest, and their performance has also contributed to the company’s directors having chosen the Budapest subsidiary as the site for their latest service centre from among its other locations”, Mr. Szijjártó said.
According to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the investments realised by TCS have also contributed to the fact that the business service centre sector is generating the second highest rate of investment in Hungary after the automotive industry. “Breaking all previous records, last year owners decided on the establishment of 14 new service centres, and there are currently 120 such centres operating in Hungary, employing 55 thousand Hungarian employees”, Mr. Szijjártó said. Senior Vice President of TCS N. Ganapathy Subramaniam highlighted the fact that the company’s activities are expanding thanks to the opening of the new digital service centre in Budapest, and the company’s efforts are reinforcing its role within the fields of artificial intelligence and automation.
(MTI)
