The US-based $4.6 billion travel industry giant, Carlson Hospitality Worldwide, is setting up a wholly-owned software centre in India to develop programs for its global hotel and tourism business, and also a joint venture to manage its rapidly growing 'Country Inns' and 'Suites' brand of resorts in India.

This is the first time a major international hotel chain is setting up its own software development centre in India. The Carlson group owns luxury brands like Regent International Hotels, Radisson Hotels, Country Inns and TGI Friday Restaurants.

American Megatrends Inc., the Atlanta-based IT major in the development of basic input-output systems (Bios) software, has set up its first ever subsidiary outside the US in Chennai, India, at a cost of Rs. 3.5 crores ($1 million).

IBM has decided to locate its eighth research facility world-wide in New Delhi. The India Solutions Research Centre, as it will be called, will be set up in partnership with the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi. The Centre, expected to be operational by the end of the year, will initially focus on weather forecasting, electronic commerce, supply chain management and distribution, cellular and mobile telephony systems and distance learning. As part of its mission, the centre will foster partnership in research projects with leading Indian universities and educational institutions.

Cadence Design Systems of US will be investing $6 million in India for establishment of state-of-the-art R&D centre in Noida, near New Delhi. The new centre will become operational by the second quarter of 1997, and will employ 350 software professionals. With this, the total investment will go upto $11 million. Cadence's Indian R&D centre will be the third largest facility outside the US.

The Satyam IT Group of Hyderabad is expanding its off-shore development capability and domestic operations network. A new 20,000 sq. ft. unit, of the flagship company, Satyam Computer Services (SCS), which has been set up in Chennai, has started functioning.

The New York-based global investment bank - DE Shaw and Company- announced the opening of its software development facility located at the software technology park at Hyderabad in India. The bank, which is now active in New York, London, Boston and Tokyo, is seriously looking at non-Japanese Asian nations for expansion of its activities in the region.

The 100% export-oriented facility in Hyderabad will develop state-of-the-art software in areas including automated securities trading, information management, quantitative market evaluation and on-line order execution. The software facility will also develop Internet-based products such as Juno, the world's first free electronic mail service and Farsight, the online personal financial services package.