MUMBAI, India–Oracle plans to raise its headcount in India to 10,000 people during 2006 from 8,600 currently, and expand its presence in the country to 15 cities from six, a senior official said on Tuesday.
“Up to now we typically operated from the sales, marketing, consulting, support and education point of view, out of six cities in India,” Derek Williams, executive vice-president Oracle Asia Pacific and Japan, said while addressing a gathering of customers, partners and industry participants.
“We will be growing that to 15 cities for us to take a direct presence in those cities,” he said.
Oracle, one of the world’s largest software companies, has been in India for 19 years and invested $2 billion in the country so far, he said.
Oracle President Charles Phillips said in October the company saw good growth opportunities in the fast-growing markets of China and India.
The company’s largest research and development center outside the United States is in India and 15 percent of its global work is done in the country.
“It is not just product development, we are talking about consulting, worldwide support, call centers, direct sales, technical sales and analytics,” Williams said.
Last year, Oracle also bought a 43 percent stake in Indian software products maker I-flex solutions to boost its position in the country.
News source: Cnet
