New Delhi: Microsoft today (Nov 16, 2004) announced its decision to localise Windows and Office software in 14 Indian languages over the next 12 months and said India must take steps to increase computer penetration in the country.

This was stated by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer during his meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi today.

"The first thing on PM's mind was support for all Indian languages in computer software that people use. I updated him on 'Project Bhasha' to bring MS Windows and Office in 14 Indian languages by this time next year," Ballmer told newspersons after the meeting.

Expressing concern over poor PC penetration in India, he said, "Government needs to help get more computers in the hands of more people. We also feel Government can do a lot to stimulate IT economy in India since India still lags somewhat in investment in computerisation for its own purposes even though providing IT services to the world."

He said Microsoft will hire hundreds of software engineers in India in this year.

Asked about offshoring to India, he said, "We are in a fortunate situation. We can't hire as many smart people as we can use. We need to add smart people. We are hiring in US, we will hire 3000 people in US this year and hundreds of people in India this year."

"I trust you to continue to see us hire more and more R&D engineers as fast as we can even as we continue to hire at our headquarters in Seattle," he said.