MS R&D search taps into Eastern promise

Microsoft is actively looking outside the US to set up its second major R&D facility, with Bangalore in India a leading contender.

Since Microsoft CEO Bill Gates? visit to India earlier this year, where he loudly praised the country?s wealth of software talent, speculation has been rife that the giant would set up another development facility.

Sources claimed Microsoft has undergone a serious evaluation for an Indian centre, with reports that the software giant is contemplating establishing a software research and development centre in Bangalore, to tap into Indian programming talent.

Sanjay Parthasarathy, Microsoft regional director for the Indian subcontinent, said: ?We are considering setting up such a centre.? But he declined to confirm that India ? and almost certainly the heart of its IT industry, Bangalore ? would be the location for the facility, which would be the second after the software giant?s centre at its Redmond, Washington, headquarters.

?We had already said that within a year of Mr Gates? visit to India, we would be looking at development sites outside the US. No decision has been taken on the location yet, although India is a definite option,? added Parthasarathy.