Oracle to double India workforce

Irene Tham, CNETAsia CNet

Published: 13 Jun 2002 15:55 BST

Oracle plans to hire an additional 2,000 engineers to boost its current development workforce in Bangalore and Hyderabad, India.

"India is important to Oracle because the market is vibrant," said Derek Williams, Oracle Asia-Pacific executive vice president.

"The government is going electronic...many manufacturing companies are taking to ERP (enterprise resource planning) software, and financial services firms are changing their business practices (using IT)," Williams told reporters on Wednesday during the OracleWorld conference in Beijing.

He said Oracle sold more call centre software in India than the rest of Asia-Pacific combined.

In an earlier Wednesday session with Oracle chairman and chief executive Larry Ellison, reporters questioned Oracle's commitment to India vis-a-vis China, and asked which country he "preferred."

Ellison replied: "I have a daughter and a son. It is like my daughter asking: 'Do you love me more?'"

"My answer is I love both," he said.

Ellison also dismissed the notion that Oracle will pull out of India due to threats of a civil war with Pakistan, saying: "Oracle is in India to stay."

Separately, Oracle also announced on Wednesday plans to accelerate investments in China. The company commenced a Chinese version of its popular online resource centre targeted at developers, and revealed plans to start its fourth Asia-Pacific development centre in Beijing.

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