IBM Chief meets Maran, discusses plans in India

New Delhi, May 8 (UNI) IBM Corp Chief Executive Samuel Palmisano today met Communications and IT Minister Dayanidhi Maran and discussed the company's plans in India.

IBM has been invited by the government to take initiative in India's national e-governance, sources said.

Besides, Mr Palmisano held meetings with other Indian business leaders and executives from client companies as he wrapped up a two-day trip to review the company's new investments and expansion here.

IBM is investing six billion dollars to set up new research facilities and expand its outsourcing centres in India. The company has hired thousands of engineers and software professionals since Mr Palmisano unveiled the three-year investment plan last June.

Currently, sales in India form a negligible part of IBM's global revenue, but the Armonk, New York-based company is beginning to win large orders from Indian companies.

In March, IBM won a 10-year contract to manage the information technology infrastructure of Idea Cellular in a deal valued between 600 million dollar and 800 million dollar.

IBM employs about 53,000 people in India, second only to the United States, where it has about 1,25,000 employees.

UNI