Thursday, June 2 2005 16:08 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Bangalore: Indian IT companies hiring techies for Chinese operations are expected to double to 2000 by the end of the financial year as they scale up their presence in the dragon country, a NASSCOM official said today (Jun 2 2005).

Currently, eighteen Indian companies have set up shop in China employing 1,000 people, mostly Chinese. That number is projected to witness a 100 per cent growth by the end of the year, the official said.

Indian IT companies have so far estimated to have invested $ 50 million for Chinese operations, the NASSCOM (National Association of Software and Services Companies) official said.

NASSCOM chairman S Ramadorai told reporters that a delegation of NASSCOM member-companies is visiting China during September-October in the wake of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's call to Indian companies to set up bases there during his visit here earlier this year.

Ramadorai, CEO and MD of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), said his own company had scaled up headcount at its Chinese office to 250. Other Indian IT companies are also scaling up their operations to cater to markets in China and around the region, he added.