LG Software Development Centre India (LGSI), a member of South Korean Chaebol LG , has set up a software development centre in New Delhi, with an initial investment of $9 million.

The centre is expected to tap the booming ERP market in the country. The new centre already has received an order from LG Electronics, another group company. Worth $1 million, the contract entails LGSI to take care of LG's total IT requirements which include providing ERP level solutions and interim solutions for their sales and distribution process. The New Delhi centre is the company's second centre in the country after Bangalore which was set up in March 1996.

Viewlogic has set up a state-of-the-art Electronic Design Automation (EDA) Engineering Centre at Bangalore. The centre will collaborate with prominent Indian universities to leverage the research work being done by them. This centre is the first R&D facility being set by ViewLogic outside the US. India has been chosen for its vast pool of engineering talent. ViewLogic has one of the largest installed bases amongst EDA software companies in India.

A new software development centre to improve the wide spectrum of communications, networking systems and products will be set up by Hughes Software Systems (HSS), the Indian subsidiary of the $800 million Hughes Network Systems Inc. (HNS). The new centre to be opened in the State of Karnataka is the second one to be opened by HSS in the country. The company plans to recruit about 30 to 40 technical personnel and gradually increase the strength to more than 100 in a couple of years. Having decided to enter the service industry in a big way, the company expects 50% of its total revenue to come from services, about 40% from the sale of products and the rest from its exclusive arrangement with HNS.

PHL Software Services, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the US-based Phoenix Home Life Mutual Insurance Company, which entered India in early 1995 as a 100% EOU, is now adding a second centre. While the existing centre develops software for the parent company's MIS requirements, the new centre is aimed at addressing the insurance and financial services needs of the company's clients in the US and European markets. The centre will develop applications on latest technologies such as Java, Visual Basic etc. The parent company will be investing around Rs. 16.5 crore ($ 4.5 million ) for the new development centre in Bangalore.

Wipro Infotech, a major IT company in India, has set up a centre of excellence in the area of global systems mobile communications in London for one specific customer. This centre will be engaged in activities like proof of concept. In other words, unlike software development centres, the excellence centre will not be tied down to certain projects but to research and development.

This is the first of the series of such centres planned by the company to further its interest in the new markets of Europe.

Duet Technologies Ltd., the wholly owned Indian subsidiary of US-based independent design technology services provider, Duet Technologies Inc., plans to set up two more development centres in the country over the next two years. The centres, expected to come up in Pune and Bangalore respectively, are estimated to cost Rs. 10-15 crores ($ 2.8 million to $ 4 million) to set up.