IBM India headcount crosses 50,000

New Delhi: US-technology giant IBM on Tuesday said it has more than doubled its headcount in India to 50,000 in the last two years.

"IBM has more than doubled the number of people it employs in India over the past two years to over 50,000. This means that one in six of IBM's workers is now based in India," a company statement said here.

IBM had recently said it will invest six billion dollars in India by 2009.

"We have invested $ 2 billion (in the last three years). We will spend $ 6 billion by 2009," IBM Asia-Pacific president Frank Kern said last week.

As part of its expansion plans at its India Research Laboratory, the company has shifted its lab in Delhi, earlier located within the IIT campus, to a larger facility in Vasant Kunj.

The new laboratory has more than double the floor space of the earlier location, better infrastructure and will provide IBM better bandwidth to address innovation needs of a larger client base worldwide, the statement added.

IBM also recently opened a research lab in Bangalore.

The expansion of IBM Research facilities in India is driven by a growth in research activities related to IBM's Software, Services and Systems businesses, as well as client collaborations in India.

The company invests $ 5-6 billion dollar a year in R&D, Dan Dias, Director, IBM India Research Laboratory said.