Fujitsu unit plans to hire 2,500 staff in India

NEW DELHI - Fujitsu Consulting, a unit of Japan's Fujitsu Ltd., plans to more

than double its backoffice staff in India and increase the services it offers

global clients, a company official said on Tuesday.

A global hub for software and backoffice services, India is home to an army

of low-cost, English speaking developers and engineers paid a fraction of the

wages their western counterparts earn.

"We expect to hire some 2,500 employees in the next two years,"

Steve Kirchoff, executive vice president at Fujitsu Consulting, told reporters.

"There could be more, but this is the minimum expectation on our

part."

Fujitsu Consulting, whose revenue in the year to March 2006 totaled about $1

billion, employs 1,000 staff in India, Asia's third-largest economy. Parent

Fujitsu is Japan's fourth-largest electronics conglomerate.

"India is going to see a substantial amount of investment because of the

demand that other regions will put on this centre," Kirchoff added.

Fujitsu, with customers such as McDonalds Corp., Intel Corp. and Lucent

Technologies Inc. and 6,000 employees worldwide, would invest at least $20

million in its Indian operations.

In the computer and software services business, Fujitsu competes mainly with

International Business Machines Corp. and Electronic Data Systems Corp., both of

whom have a growing presence in India.