US software maker Oracle announces expansion plans in India
(AP)
Updated: 2006-01-10 14:27

U.S. business software maker Oracle Corp. plans to hire 1,400 people in India as part of its plans to expand its operations to nine more cites in the South Asian nation, a company executive said Tuesday.

Oracle already has about 8,600 employees in India and operates in six cities, and is looking to quickly add the additional staff, said Derek Williams, the company's executive vice president for Asia-Pacific.

Williams refused to specify what types of operations would be set up in the three new cities. The company already operates research and development centers in Bangalore and Hyderabad.

"We will grow from 8,600 employees to over 10,000 employees over the next eight months," he said on the sidelines of a two-day conference Oracle is hosting on the future of information technology in Bombay. The conference began Tuesday.

Over the past five years, Oracle has invested over US$2 billion in India, he said.

The Redwood Shores, California-based Oracle, has been operating in India since 1987. It was one of the first international software companies to set up a development center in India in 1994.

Williams said that 80 percent of Indian banks run their business on Oracle software and 90 percent of Indian telecommunications companies use Oracle software.