BANGALORE: India's second biggest software services exporter, Infosys Technologies Ltd., said it would open next week a research and development centre with French engineering group Alstom.
Nasdaq-listed Infosys is a leader in India's booming information technology services industry, but is better known for work related to business software than research and development for manufacturing clients.
Details of centre are expected to be announced at an inauguration ceremony on May 31.
"Infosys is a much smaller player in R&D, compared with players like Wipro and even HCL Technologies," Apurva Shah, analyst at ASK-Raymond James, said.
"I guess they are trying to catch up in R&D as Wipro has done in enterprise (business) work," Shah said.
Research services, which involve high-skill engineering, are usually done at higher profit margins, industry analysts say.
Shares of Bangalore-based Infosys, which listed a $1.0 billion worth American depositary share (ADS) issue against existing domestic stock on Thursday, were up 1.4 percent around 1015 GMT on the Bombay Stock Exchange, where the benchmark 30-share index was up 0.5 percent.