December 7, 2005
According to Bill Gates, over the next four years, Microsoft is planning to
invest $1.7 billion in India, and employ another three thousand people to bolster
its presence in one of the fastest-growing countries in the world. India is now
considered by many as a major producer of software and related applications.
About half of the money would be spent on its existing research and development center, its global software delivery unit and expanding to 33 more cities by opening retail outlets.
"We have about 4,000 people (in India), we would be growing that by 3,000 over the next several years," Gates told a news conference.
Many large foreign companies plan more investment in India, attracted by low costs, an educated work force, and an economy forecast to grow 7-7.5 percent in the fiscal year ending in March.
Among big technology groups, chip maker Intel Corp. (Research) and communications equipment maker Cisco Systems Inc. (Research) have announced billion-dollar investments in the past two months.
Microsoft, the world's largest software maker, is tapping into India's booming $17.2 billion software services industry for skilled workers at costs far below average Western salaries.
Gates said Microsoft would focus on research to help the spread of low-cost computing in India, where high entry-level costs limit the usage of computers among its billion-plus people.
Microsoft has launched software in local Indian languages to ride a software boom in the world's second-most-populous country.
Microsoft's plans follow Intel saying on Monday it would pour $1.1 billion into its Indian operations in the medium term, including setting up a venture fund to take stakes in start-ups.
In October, Cisco said it planned to invest $1.1 billion over the next three years and triple its staff numbers in India.
U.S. bank J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. said this week it hoped to hire 4,500 graduates in India over the next two years.
Source: CNN Money
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