Bangalore: IT major Citrix Systems will invest $200 million (Rs 8.5 billion) to expand its research and development (R&D) operations in India, a top company official said Wednesday.

"The investment over the next five years in our second R&D facility in Bangalore will enable us to hire another 500 engineers in phases and ramp up our headcount to 750 by 2012," Citrix chief financial officer David J. Henshall told reporters here.

"The expansion will equip us to focus on developing end-to-end product line," he added.

The first R&D centre was set up here seven years ago to develop a host of applications for global enterprises across industry verticals with 200 engineers. Investment in the first facility has not been disclosed.

The $1.4-billion US-based Citrix delivers applications for networking, desktop, virtualisation, 3D graphics, multimedia and voice over IP (internet protocol). It also provides market analysis, sales and technical support, testing and quality assurance.

The India centre will develop complete product line under the trademark 'Citrix delivery centre' for global and local customers, apart from undertaking advance research in design, coding, functional testing, documentation, engineering, management and escalation, Henshall said.