Bangalore: US IT Services Company Global Consultants (GCI) is planning out to increase its headcount aggressively in India from the current 1500 people to 4,500-5,000 people by 2009. Currently, the company has a majority of its people in the US.

"We have been talking to several clients about being flexible and taking work offshore also in what we call as the BestShore global delivery model. The plan is to grow faster in India than other geographies," Jawahar Bekay, MD and CSO, GCI India, told Economic Times. Though the inorganic route is also open, most of the headcount growth will happen organically, he added.

In terms of acquisitions, GCI will look for companies that can add practices or niche areas to its domain verticals — financial services, telecom/communications/media and manufacturing/retail. GCI's presence in India is primarily through acquisitions. In 2005, it acquired Planetasia, a unit of Pradeep Kar’s Microland while it bought IVL India, based in Kerala, in January this year. Currently, the company has development centres in Bangalore, Thiruvananthapuram and Baroda.

It is aiming at expanding in these three cities as well as going into other tier-II and tier-III cities like Coimbatore.