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Our Bureau

New Delhi , July 14

ADOPTING an aggressive strategy for the Chinese market, Infosys Technologies on Thursday said it plans to ramp up the headcount at its China subsidiary to over 1,000 employees over the next several quarters.

"We already have over 100 employees in China and we hope to have many more, who will contribute to our global set of talent for delivery," Mr Nandan Nilekani, CEO, President and Managing Director of Infosys Technologies, told reporters here.

He said China was important as a potential market as well as potential resource pool for the company's global aspirations. Infosys had announced an initial investment of $5 million for the Chinese operation. "The investment is on track," he said.

The subsidiary, set up in October 2003, added three clients during the last quarter, taking the total to 15. During 2004-05, Infosys invested Rs 18.46 crore in the Chinese arm, taking the total investment to Rs 23.01 crore as of March 31, In the last fiscal, Infosys China generated Rs 8.19 crore in revenues with a net loss of Rs 8.39 crore.

On concerns over information security, Mr Nilekani said, "A lot of focus has been on the issue of data security and privacy. It is possible that some incidents of security breach that occurred in India may have got magnified in the backdrop of outsourcing backlash. At the same time, it is for Indian companies to use international benchmarks in data protection and privacy."

Earlier, in a separate interaction last evening, Mr Nilekani had said that the industry could look at a possible system for certification that would enable clients to gauge the level of security standards being adhered to by various companies.

Meanwhile, Infosys Consulting — a subsidiary of Infosys Technologies — is expected to achieve a breakeven in the fourth quarter of the current financial year and grow to a 500-strong team by March 2007.

As per the company's annual report, Infosys Consulting had made losses of Rs 33.03 crore on revenues of Rs 21.11 crore in 2004-05. "At present Infosys Consulting has 120 consultants and by March 2007 the number is expected to reach 500," he said adding, "we expect every consultant to generate work for four Infosys Technologies person."

Infosys Consulting currently has seven offices in the US. "We are expanding our US offices," Mr Nilekani said while pointing out that the company would open offices in Europe and other overseas locations. In the first year of its operations, Infosys Consulting has notched 25 clients and in the last quarter it had revenues of $5 million.

According to Mr Stephen Pratt, CEO and Managing Director of Infosys Consulting Inc, the company expects to "just less than double" its number of clients by next year.

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