Oracle to double Indian operations

Oracle has been in India for eight years now

Oracle, the world's second largest software firm, is to nearly double its Indian operations over the next four years.

The expansion will create an extra 1,800 jobs, taking the company's total Indian employees to about 4,000.

Costs are important but not as important as intellectual capital

Derek Williams
Oracle's Asia boss

The firm has already started hiring for a unit to provide back-office services for its global operations.

The news was announced as Oracle opened a new section of its sprawling headquarters in Bangalore, which houses about 1,200 software engineers.

And it comes against the backdrop of a scaling back of its Silicon Valley operations in the US.

Making sense

But Derek Williams, Oracle's vice-president of the Asia-Pacific region, stopped short of saying that jobs were being moved from the US to India.

"We obviously put our development facilities in the country that makes most sense," said Mr Williams.

"Costs are important but not as important as intellectual capital."

The firm announced 200 development job cuts in Silicon Valley last month, and analysts say a further 600 redundancies are on the way.

Cheap labour

Many IT firms are setting up back-office units in India, attracted by the relatively low cost of hiring English-speaking graduates.

The firm says it has already tested collaboration between global employees over telecoms in developing software products.

A separate internet sales unit in India to boost marketing is also planned.

Oracle first set up an Indian software centre in India in 1994, and has bases in Bangalore and Hyderabad.