Oracle to recruit 3000 in India

NEW DELHI: Oracle Corp., the world's second largest software maker, said on Wednesday that it would nearly double its workforce in India over the next year to 6,000 employees as it scales up operations in the country.

Oracle, which develops software and provides consulting services to global clients from India's technology hubs of Bangalore and Hyderabad, now employs 3,159 people in the country. It has recruited 1,000 recruited in the past year.

"We will increase the number of people in Bangalore and Hyderabad," Derek Williams, Oracle's executive vice president for Asia Pacific, told a news conference called to launch a new software package for mid-size businesses.

"It will grow to 6,000 over the next 12

Like many other global corporations, Oracle is tapping "of about 250,000 English-speaking information technology graduates that Indian universities turn out each year.

These skilled workers are paid much less than their counterparts in the West.

Williams said India was now Oracle's fifth largest market in the Asia-Pacific region, up from the tenth largest two years ago. He expected it to rise to the third or fourth position over the next two years.

The firm said it estimated the Indian market for the range business software products it launced at $15 million a year.

Nearly 2,400 organizations in India with annual sales between 250 million rupees ($5.45 million) and 4.0 billion rupees were potential buyers of the new suite of products, which cost between 1.6 million to 2.6 million rupees, Oracle officials said.

© Reuters