Chennai: IT major, Infosys, as part of its plan to expand its operations in Chennai, will acquire 129 acres of land at the Mahindra Industrial Park Limited (MIPL) at suburban Maraimalai Nagar, thus becoming the first 'anchor tenant' to the 1432-acre park.

A memorandum of understanding (MOU) will be signed on August 20 between the top officials of MIPL and Infosys in the presence of the Chief Secretary to Tamil Nadu government, Lakshmi Pranesh.

Addressing a press conference prior to the signing ceremony, Arun Nanda, executive director of Mahindra and Mahindra Limited, (the promotors of the MIPL) and S Gopala Krishnan, chief operating officer (COO) of Infosys, said the Infosys hoped to construct modules of 600 to 1000 sq feet in the park, known as Mahindra city, and each module would be completed in nine to 12 months period.

''In the next few years, an investment of Rs 250 crore was likely to come into the land acquired by Infosys,'' Gopala Krishnan said adding that his company had acquired 13.5 acres of land near Mamallapuram (also known as Mahabalipuram) in 1995 and it was fully occupied now.

Nanda said the site was fully developed and anyone planning to put up shop at the park could start his operations after just ''plugging in''. ''Infosys is our first and the anchor customer for us'', he said while refusing to spell out the price. ''It will be a preferential price for anchor customers,'' Nanda added.

PTI