Huawei to double Indian investment

Anshuman Daga

BANGALORE: Chinese telecommunications equipment maker Huawei Technologies
plans this year to nearly double investment in its Indian software center to $30
million, company officials said.

"We have a long-term commitment towards India and would be investing
significantly both in terms of manpower, technology and infrastructure in the
next two to three years," Jack Lu, Huawei India's chief operating officer,
told Reuters.

Huawei plans to expand its Bangalore staff by at least 200 this year and
nearly double investment from a current $17 million, a company spokesman said.

The growth of Huawei's two-year-old software research and development center
in Bangalore, the only Chinese software operation in India, is a sign of the
computer hardware giant's determination to pick up software strength from India
which has a vast army of programmers.

The neighboring countries have edged closer in technology, but are also seen
by analysts as rivals in software programming as the sector grows in China.
"While the Indians are good at software development and project management,
the Chinese are good in system design and architecture," Lu said.

Lu said privately-owned Huawei, China's biggest telecoms gear maker, saw
India as a leading product development center in coming years and planned to
"eventually localize" staffing at the R&D center.

Out of a current workforce of around 500 at the firm's Indian center, about
100 are Chinese.

Huawei also sources software from Indian companies which include Infosys
Technologies, Satyam Computer Services and Wipro Ltd.

Huawei said it awarded projects worth about $14 million to its Indian
partners in 2001 and about 200 engineers from its partner firms worked on its
projects in China last year. Indian software exporters, who derive most of their
business from the United States, have begun to tap China's huge market,
attracted by enormous growth in the hardware sector and a pool of talented
knowledge workers.

Satyam last month opened a branch office in China which it said could also
serve as a channel to provide services to related markets. Infosys also plans to
open a branch in China.

Chinese premier Zhu Rongji suggested during a visit to India last month that
China and India should combine their strengths in computer hardware and software
for mutual benefit.