IBM Pledges To Triple Investment In India To $6 Billion

"In the next three years, we will triple our investment in India -- from $2 billion over the last three years to nearly $6 billion in the next three years," said Samuel J. Palmisano, IBM's chairman and CEO, in a statement delivered in Bangalore. "That investment will ensure that we make the most of the opportunities to grow this marketplace, while it also enables IBM to fulfill its vision to become a globally integrated company."

The firm said it now has more than 43,000 employees in India, making the country home of the company's largest organization after the U.S.

The importance of the announcement to IBM was underscored by the presence of some 50 financial analysts who traveled to India to hear Palmisano and attend IBM's annual analyst meeting.

While India accounts for IBM's second highest global employee headcount, the country's IBM revenues of slightly more than $500 million lags behind in revenue in comparison to the some $1.5 billion logged annually each in China and Brazil.

Palmisano listed the new undertakings IBM plans for India, headed by Service Delivery Centers and an IBM Systems and Technology Group (STG) Innovation, Development and Executive Briefing Center, both planned for Bangalore. The Service Delivery Centers will be aimed at IT clients, while the STG operation will provide various services and technologies.

A Telecommunications Research and Innovation Center will be located at IBM's existing India Research Lab and will provide services and solutions to IBM customers around the world. An Advanced Global Services Delivery Network will pair researchers from IBM global labs including its research lab in Boulder, Colorado.

The firm said its STG Innovation, Development and Executive Briefing Center's charter will include improving Linux competency, which the firm said it plans to increase in India.

"India already has IBM's third largest population of Linux developers," the firm's announcement stated. "The new center will work closely with the Linux Technology Center, which has been operating in Bangalore since 1999."