Microsoft to invest $1.7B in India
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates has said his company will invest $1.7 billion in India in the next four years.
He said nearly half of the investment would go into expanding Microsoft's research, product and application-development competencies in India.
"That is a fairly conservative estimate but an evidence of the role that we see for India in our overall strategy," Gates said, The Hindustan Times newspaper reported Thursday.
"As part of our commitment we plan to ramp up our strength from 4,000 to 7,000 in the next three-four years, " he said.
Gates said a part of the investment would be pumped into establishing two innovation centers -- one in New Delhi and the other in southern Bangalore for providing developers, students and customers a platform to develop, test and deploy innovative software solutions.
"The company will also extend its reach by setting up offices in 33 cities and adding 700 retail outlets," the Microsoft chairman said. He said another chunk of investment would be slated for creating a digitally inclusive society.
"India is the country where many of the breakthroughs are required for creating a digitally inclusive society," Gates said.
He said to ensure India's leadership in the emerging knowledge economy, it needs to focus on four main areas: literacy, productivity, digital inclusion and innovation.
"India had a great value to add to the Microsoft product line in terms of products like the storage server that was completely developed in India," Gates said.
Copyright 2005 by United Press International
