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Global IT majors flood India with jobs, investments
8/8/2006
NEW DELHI, Aug 7 (PTI): It's raining dollars for the Indian IT sector with global giants like Microsoft, IBM and Intel announcing investments to the tune of over USD 15 billion (nearly Rs 70,000 crore) and thousands of new jobs for their operations and joint ventures here.
A highly skilled and vast workforce, low-cost operations, a booming economy, good telecommunications links and a rapidly growing market are some of the reasons why multinational giants are hitting the Indian shores with big investment plans.
About six major global IT companies-German application software giant SAP AG, IT services major IBM, world's largest software maker Microsoft, largest computer chipmaker Intel and US-based software giant AMD and leader in networking for the internet Cisco-have each committed over USD one billion dollar investment in the country over the past few months.
With designs to make India its research and development hub, SAP AG last week announced it would invest USD one billion. "We will invest USD one billion in India in the next five years," SAP CEO Henning Kagermann said.
The company will increase the headcount in India to 4,000 by the end of this year and hopes to double the number over the next five years, riding on the demand for SAP's products.
IBM in June this year has announced to triple its investments in India over the next three years by pumping in USD six billion towards its India operations.
Microsoft, the world's largest software maker, will inject USD 1.7 billion in India on various projects over a period of four years, its Chairman Bill Gates said in December last year.
The company would also double its workforce in the country during the same period. Till December last year, Microsoft had 4,000 employees in India.
Funds would also be spent in making India a major hub for Microsoft's research, product and application development, services and technical support for both global and domestic companies.
Oracle, the world's third largest software maker, has plans to continue investing in India and add to its 9,500 employees in the country, its chairman of Asia operations said in June this year.
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