Indian IT bellwether Infosys is investing around Rs 2,500 crore to set up its seventh SEZ in Sarjapur near Bangalore, the company CEO said recently.

The SEZ would have around 18,000 seats and will be operational by end-March 2011.

"Infosys has acquired 202 acres of land in Sarjapur, near Bangalore, to build an SEZ. The total investment earmarked for the project is Rs 2,500 crore and work is expected to begin in August-September this year", Infosys' CEO and Managing Director, S Gopalakrishnan told PTI in an e-mail interview.

The project is likely to get operational by March-end 2011 and the facility will generate 18,000 employment opportunities, he added.

This would be the company's seventh SEZ project. It presently has facilities in Jaipur, Chennai, Chandigarh, Pune, Mangalore and Thiruvananthapuram.

The IT major plans to expand its seat capacity in these centres by 25,000 in the current fiscal. On its acquisition plans, Gopalakrishnan said the company was open to inorganic growth in emerging markets.

"We are continuously looking for acquisitions and have certain profiles of what kind of a company we want. If an opportunity arises, we will go for it", he said.

Banking and retail verticals would be the growth-drivers for the company, he added.