SHANGHAI, AUGUST 18: ?Indian software major Satyam Computer Services Ltd plans to expand its China operations by setting up a large research and development center as well as hiring up to 3,000 engineers by 2007, a senior executive has said.

Satyam plans to hire more than 1,000 engineers by 2006 from 250 now and 3,000 by 2007, and it will also build a large research and development (R & D) centre either in Nanjing, Xi'an, Chengdu or Tianjin, President of Satyam, Ram Mynampati said.

Expressing strong confidence in the company's growth in China, he said that Satyam does not intend to provide direct service to Chinese firms in the short term.

"So why we are here (in China)? Because many of our global customers have set up new businesses in the country and we aim to provide them the same high-quality services here," Mynampati was quoted as saying by Shanghai Daily today.

"The other reason is we plan to attract new customers in Japan and South Korea. China has a similar culture to them and we can communicate with them more effectively through the expanded Chinese operation," Mynampati, who visited Shanghai recently, said.

He noted that more than 80 per cent of Satyam's revenue now comes from the West and he forecast that the contribution from the Asia pacific region will go up from the current 15 per cent to reach 25 per cent a few years after Satyam's expansion in China.

Satyam's revenue in the next fiscal year, which will end on March 31, is expected to hit one billion US dollars, a 26 per cent to 28 per cent growth year on year, the paper reported.

Mynampati, who visited China for the first time since becoming a senior member of Satyam's management group in 1999, said the company's clients in China include subsidiaries of foreign firms like Shanghai General Electric and Shanghai General Motors.

He also dismissed the fear that the entry of Indian software companies to China will hamper the infant Chinese information technology service industry.

"Our advanced experience in the industry will help China to train it talents and indirectly push the Chinese it industry," he said.

"Obviously it is a win-win game," he was quoted as saying.