Thursday, June 30 2005 15:58 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: In one of the largest ever initiative by Indian IT company in China, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Microsoft have been selected as partners to form a joint venture (JV) company for IT outsourcing services and solutions for global and domestic market.

As part of this strategic partnership, TCS will hold a majority stake in the joint venture for Sino-India Cooperative Office (SICO) of China, TCS said in a release in Mumbai today (Jun 30, 2005).

The other stakeholders in the proposed venture are Microsoft, Beijing Zhongguancun Software Park Development Company Ltd, Uniware Company Ltd and Tianjin Huayuan Software Park Construction and Development Company Ltd, it said.

The JV, to be located in Beijing's Zhongguancun Software Park, plans to start operation in early 2006, TCS said.

The JV would provide IT outsourcing services and solutions to all worldwide markets particularly US, Europe, and the Asia Pacific region. It is well positioned to bid Chinese domestic market including government projects and IT assignments for Beijing Olympics scheduled in 2008.

The JV would leverage the strengths of investing parties in technology, software development management and talent training, in particular processes and practices of the company as well as its experience of handling large and industrial-scale projects, it said.