IBM India expansion
By Pulkit Sharma

IBM has announced the opening of a branch office in Visakhapatnam, South East India as part of the company's continued geographic expansion initiative to increase its presence in key growth markets.

In 2011 IBM has opened six new branch offices in India as it expands its reach to smaller, rapidly developing cities as part of its plan to establish a presence in over 40 cities across India and South Asia by 2013. Earlier this year IBM opened new branches in Coimbatore in the State of Tamil Nadu, Indore in the State of Madhya Pradesh, Dehradun in the State of Uttarakhand, Guwahati in the State of Assam and Raipur in the State of Chhattisgarh.

"2011 has been an important year for IBM's geographic expansion strategy as we continue our focus on the fastest growing markets in the world," said Bruno Di Leo, General Manager, IBM Growth Markets Unit. "India plays a key role in our growth market strategy and we have opened six new branches across the country this year taking us closer to our clients and partners in India's rapidly evolving regional cities."

To support its regional expansion initiative, IBM has also been actively recruiting new business partners across the country - in 2011 over 1000 new business partners from India/South Asia have registered via IBM's PartnerWorld program.

The new office in Visakhapatnam was inaugurated yesterday by Mr. Sanjit Singh Lamba, Managing Director of Eisai Pharmaceuticals, one of IBM's customers in the region.