Sonia Gandhi inaugurates Infosys education centre in Mysore

The facility is an extension of the IT major's Global Education Centre (GEC), which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in February 2005.

With the GEC II, set up at an investment of Rs.800 crore, Infosys can now train 14,000 new recruits at the same time.
Given its infrastructure and size of operations, GEC is the largest corporate education centre in the world, Infosys officials said.

After the inauguration, Gandhi said the centre was a testimony that India can also build world-class education and training centres.
"It's a pleasure to be on this beautiful campus. It has a marvellous setting for a university to train and educate young minds," she told a gathering, mostly young employees of the IT bellwether.

"The GEC is the testimony that India can have world-class education centres. The success of Infosys is because of its hard work, dedication and talent."
Overwhelmed by the sprawling, state-of-the-art campus, the Congress president  said it gave her an opportunity to "bunk political classes" for a little while.

"I have toured the entire campus and liked it a lot. Honestly, I would like to bunk my classes for a few more days to stay here," she smiled.
Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, Infosys chief mentor N.R. Narayana Murthy, and chief executive S. Gopalakrishnan were also present on the occasion. 
The building of the new facility shares architectural resemblance with that of India's parliament and Rome's Colosseum.

The entire Infosys campus here is spread over 337 acres.
Murthy told the audience that the main goal of Infosys was to fight poverty with the power of entrepreneurship and creating jobs.
"The centre is a proof of the progress we have made so far. GEC is the largest monolith classical building of post independent India," added Murthy.
Infosys, according to officials, invests an average of Rs.250,000 on training a potential employee over a period of 16 weeks.
The inaugural ceremony was also attended by Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa and leader of opposition in the assembly Siddaramaiah.

Infosys ahead of the rest of the world, says Sonia
Infosys is a "stunning reminder" of what talent, ingenuity and hard work can accomplish, Gandhi said.
"You have shown to India and the world that an Indian company can not only be world class, but be ahead of the rest of the world", she added.
She said Infosys' success, India's second largest software exporter, should not be measured in dollars alone, but in terms of the difference it makes in transforming the society.
On the Indian IT industry, Gandhi said the success of Infosys, Wipro and Tata Consultancy Services and so many other companies has changed the lives of millions of Indians and propelled the country's economy to a record-breaking growth.
Gandhi also spoke of the enabling environment created by the Government to promote the growth of IT companies.
Recalling the groundwork laid down by her husband Rajiv Gandhi for the revolution in communication and IT, she said that Rajiv faced "bitter political opposition" to his vision, not just in introduction of computers; his greater challenge was on "mind-shift" of people in terms of accepting new ideas.