"Gates: Microsoft to Invest $1.7B in India"

[GreenPartyVoter]

NEW DELHI (AP) - Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) plans to invest $1.7 billion in India and add 3,000 jobs in the country over the next four years, nearly doubling the world's largest software company's work force here, Chairman Bill Gates said Wednesday.

Microsoft Corp. has long viewed India, a country of 1 billion people with a robust economy, as a potentially huge market, and the investment would be one of the single largest by an information technology company in India.

Much of the money would go toward improving the software giant's research and development capabilities, including the creation of a new facility in the southern city of Bangalore, India's technology hub, Microsoft said in a statement.

"We are keen to grow Microsoft activities in India," Gates told reporters.

http://apnews1.iwon.com/article/20051207/D8EBCJE81.html