Bangalore: American software product major BMC Software Company today (Nov 4) announced it plans to double its strength in India to 500 professionals and invest $ three million, besides doing Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) from its Indian operations this fiscal.

"We are aiming to break into 500 professionals in the next two quarters. It can grow further depending on the success. We are also exploring BPO opportunities from India," BMC Software president and chief executive officer Robert E Beauchamp said.

He was delivering the keynote address on "India as a product destination" at the Product and Embedded Software Summit 2003 organised by National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) at Bangalore IT.COM event.

Beauchamp said the company was in discussions with several leading IT service providers in the country to explore further the domestic market for its products.

"We are looking at investing over $ three million in this financial year to increase offshore research and development activities. We hope to achieve our target of an annual business turnover of $ 15 million from the country by the end of this financial year," he said.

The $ 1.3 billion BMC, which set up operations at Pune in 2001, has so far invested $ 1.8 million in India and plans to recruit over 250 professionals by early next year taking its total strength to over 500. The company plans to expand its operations with a new R&D facility in Pune.

PTI