Processing .....please wait.. 
The article has been forwarded.... 
Philips plans $50 M expansion in India
By siliconindia staff writer
|
Thursday, 21 October 2004, 19:30 IST
BANGALORE: Dutch consumer electronics giant Philips will invest $50 million over five years in its Indian technology centre and expects to double the centre's work-force to 2,600 by 2007, it said on Thursday.
Europe's largest consumer electronics firm, which has said it is betting on Asia to fuel growth, said workers in the technology city of Bangalore would move to a new campus as part of the expansion plan.
Employees at the Philips Innovation Campus (PIC) work on software and design for products like DVD players and also help in filing global patents.
"The PIC at Bangalore contributes over 20 per cent of the software content for our products worldwide and has established itself as a key centre of excellence for the company," said centre chief executive Bob Hoekstra.
Philips announced last month it planned to merge its three Indian entities into Philips Electronics India Ltd by March, in a sign of growing emphasis on the country.
The Dutch company said earlier this year it would keep moving jobs to Asia. Chief Executive Gerard Kleisterlee said this was linked to the "dramatic rise" of economies like China and India.