Mauritius gets Infosys disaster HQ

The issue of visas was the greatest incentive

Infosys Technologies is setting up its first disaster recovery centre on the island of Mauritius.

The Nasdaq-listed firm, India's second largest software exporter, said it would invest $25m (£16m) in a centre able to accommodate 1,500 people to take over client projects in an emergency.

As world delegates gathered in the Indian state of Karnatika to attend the annual Bangalore IT.com conference, the Mauritian information technology minister announced the project.

Infosys' chief financial officer, Mohandas Pai, explained that the company had chosen Mauritius as its emergency base for several reasons.

Visa clincher

"Firstly Mauritius, of course, has good connectivity to Europe and through that the United States, it has good telecom infrastructure," he told the BBC's World Business Report.

He said that with a population of 1.2 million people, it was a good base for manpower and it helped that Mauritians spoke both English and French.

Another incentive was that the government had issued 1,500 visas so that Infosys workers could fly to the island in an emergency.

"This visa issue was a very big issue for us," he said.

If there were a disaster, Infosys would have to charter flights and fly people to Mauritius immediately.

The company said it intended to employ local staff trained by Infosys employees.

Mauritius was chosen after Singapore was considered as an emergency base.