Upbeat over the fruitful visit of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to China this week and the prospects of greater cooperation between the two Asian giants in the information and communication technology sector, the Bangalore-based Huawei Technologies is gung-ho about its expansion plans in India in the next 2-3 years.

The agreement to relax visa restrictions and partner in software and hardware segments by the two countries has bolstered the Sanzhen-based $2.7-billion telecom giant to budget an $100-million investment in its Indian operations for stepping up offshore software development from its wholly owned subsidiary.

The company has so far invested $60 million in its software development centre and research and development facility during the 3-4 years to employ about 550 Indian professionals and 50-100 Chinese engineers. About 250 more are being recruited this year.

The $100-million additional investment plan will enable Huawei to ramp up its staff strength to about 2000 by 2005.

The company is scouting for a suitable place in the city to have its own campus, as the existing capacity is enough to house only 1000 people. Huawei currently operates from the business complex of the 7-star Leela Palace Hotel on the posh airport road in the city.

"Though Huawei is the only Chinese IT subsidiary to have set shop in India so far, we are delighted over the Indian prime minister's week-long trip to the Mainland, where several agreements were signed and partnerships initiated to promote business between the two nations," Huawei India chief operating officer James Yuan told rediff.com in Bangalore.

Expressing happiness over the easing of visa curbs by the two countries, Yuan said the agreement would lead to greater exchange between India and China in the field of IT, communications and manufacturing.

"The new visa agreement proposes to simplify and reduce the process time, which will largely benefit Huawei, as we have been regularly sending our Indian professionals to China, just as we have been bringing in Chinese professionals to India for software training and development," Yuan stated.

Unlike in the past when processing of visa papers used to take months by the Indian embassy in Beijing, simplification of rules will minimise the delay to about 10 days henceforth and facilitate greater movement of Chinese techies to Bangalore on either business or employment visas.

"The Indian government has given us a quota to bring into Bangalore about 100 Chinese engineers in batches or at a time annually on business or employment visas ranging from 6-12 months, with a provision for periodic extension.

"While we have no problem in sending an equal number of Indian engineers to China for onsite work every year, thanks to fast-track visa clearance by the Chinese embassy in Delhi, we are looking forward to greater movement of our Chinese employees for offshore development," Yuan disclosed.

Last year, over 400 Indian engineers were sent to Huawei R&D centres in Shenzhen, Beijing and Nanjing for executing full life cycle development of products and field trials.Currently, about 100 Indian employees are in China on similar projects.

"Huawei India is on its path to become the most important R&D centre of Huawei Technologies, globally. We will develop cutting-edge technologies and solutions in data communication, next generation networks, intelligent networks, operation support systems, and network management systems for global customers," Yuan claimed.

The subsidiary had posted export revenue of Rs 65 crore (Rs 650 million) during the calendar year 2002 by billing its parent company for outsourcing software projects from it, and in partnership with leading IT majors such as Infosys, Wipro, Sasken, and Satyam.

Asked what impact would Vajpayee's visit to China have on the IT industry of the two countries, the 36-year-old Yuan said the Indian government has recognised the importance of joining hands with China in the high-tech field, as it would benefit both the countries and lead to a win-win situation.

"India can take advantage of the hardware expertise of the Chinese industry to propel its own growth in IT, telecommunications and chip design, while the Chinese IT industry can learn from India's prowess in software project management skills.

"Huawei has been a pioneer in this approach of harnessing the strengths of both the countries in IT, and we hope more companies will explore the benefits of mutual co-operation," Yuan declared.

India has a vast resource of skilled software professionals, which has fuelled the growth of its IT industry globally, and during the last decade, India has acquired expertise in quality process and good software management skills.

"We can combine the hardware design and software skills of the respective countries and compete globally in technology. This way we can usher in the Asian century," Yuan extolled.