Callaway Golf Company, a global leader in golf equipment, apparel, and entertainment, inaugurated its DigiTech facility in Hyderabad. The 20,000 sq.ft facility at HiTech city was inaugurated by Minister for IT, Industries, MA & UD Shri. K.T.Rama Rao along with Mr. Sai Koorapati – SVP, CIO, Global Information Technology. Callaway DigiTech facility at Hyderabad is the first of its kind to be set up by the company. The DigiTech facility will serve as an epicenter for technology support for Callaway’s technology operations globally.
Callaway has established itself as an unrivaled modern golf company delivering golf equipment, apparel, and entertainment, with a portfolio of global brands including Callaway Golf, Topgolf, Odyssey, OGIO, Travis Mathew and Jack Wolfskin. Currently Callaway Group markets and sells in over 12 countries through wholesale, retail and E-Commerce presence. The DigiTech Facility is an integral part of Callaway’s long-term strategy to build technology enabled ecosystem that will empower its businesses through advanced Data Analytics, Application Development & Support, Cyber Security, Project Management, E-Commerce, Infrastructure & Services to all its key markets globally.
Sai Koorapati Sr. Vice President, Global Information Technology at Callaway Golf, said, “At Callaway, we are constantly innovating in order to deliver superior consumer experiences across all our brands. In the phygital world, technology enablement is a critical component, determining the success of businesses. The DigiTech Facility, with its quality of technical talent will help us leverage technology to achieve accelerated growth volumes. We are excited to start the DigiTech journey in Hyderabad, India as it offers advanced infrastructure and talent. We call Callaway a modern golf company, which again is a combination of the lifestyle, and we also have the Golf Entertainment. At one point when we were thinking of growth of the organization, how we are going to grow, especially the digital and technology team members, we were looking for options and came to the conclusion that India is the right place to have one more office apart from the USA. Which city should we opt for was the next question, then we learnt a lot about Telangana and the Government of Telangana work, based on the infrastructure available here, talent pool available here, the ease of doing business here, ensured our choice of Hyderabad to be the place where we want to have our office. Plan is to grow a couple of hundred people here.”
Hon’ble Minister K.T.Rama Rao said. “We are pleased that a renowned global brand like Callaway Golf Company zeroed in on Hyderabad to open its first technical support center. This launch opens up a new sector and many more prospective clients from sports and allied fields who will now look at Hyderabad to set up their tech centers. Government of Telangana is geared up to support the new businesses with requisite infrastructure, business friendly environment and support and talented manpower. Compliment Callaway for making a fantastic choice of Hyderabad and choose the right city. Golf is no more an elite sport, it’s a lifestyle sport for lot of upwardly mobile urban youngsters. I do believe the golfing culture has just begun and you barely scratched the surface. While I know this is a digital technology center, I do believe Golf per se has a huge future in terms of what it can be in India. I am sure we will have our own golfing superstars also come out of India at some point, as we have produced badminton superstars, as we produced the tennis superstars, we also continue to do very well on a lot of individual sports, Golf being an individual sport and not a team sport per se, it would have tremendous future going further. Now Hyderabad has been able to attract large number of technology companies. The second largest facility of Qualcomm, Novartis, Apple, Microsoft, Salesforce, Micron and Google are in Hyderabad and Amazon’s world’s largest campus is here. I do believe Callaway will also grow and grow very well. My request to you and your senior management is, bring the other brands Callaway represents to this city, as you have a huge opportunity down here. We can extend what is needed, Government can provide land, help you with quick approval and help you find a good partner for Indian market if you want a joint venture or franchise option. The Government of Telangana is an extremely progressive, forward thinking, we have the best of social infrastructure in the country in this city and we are by far one of the best cities in India. We hope to get some other pieces of your business to Hyderabad.”
Also present at the event were Mr. Abhi Uppal- VP, Global Infra structure & IT Operations, Mr. Munish Guleria – MD, Callaway DigiTech India, Mr. Prashant Singh – General Manager (Callaway Golf India), Mr. Steven Stephan – COO, SMC2 along with Government of Telangana representatives, Mr. Jayesh Ranjan, Principal Secretary and Mr. Amarnath Reddy Atmakuri, Chief Relations Officer.
