Computer Sciences Corp aims to double its staff strength in India to 1,600 by April 2004 and set up more centres as it seeks to make its Indian unit a strategic technology hub.

Stating that the company has very aggressive growth plans, Arun K Maheshwari, managing director of CSC India Pvt Ltd, told Reuters in an e-mail interview that he expects a minimum 100 per cent growth (in staff size) during this fiscal year.

California-based CSC, which competes with International Business Machines and Electronic Data Systems in managing information technology operations, including data centres and desktop computers, had about 800 employees in the Indian unit in April.

Global firms like IBM and CSC are expanding in India at a time when leading Indian software services exporters including Infosys Technologies and Wipro are making a push to grab multi-million dollar, long-term outsourcing contracts.

By tapping into India's army of low-cost engineers, foreign and local companies are emerging as one-stop service shops combining software with back-office work such as accounting and payroll management offered to overseas clients over high-speed telecom links.

"CSC India is doing some data entry work in general insurance, life insurance and banking industries. There are plans to expand this substantially both in terms of additional activities such as call centre and volume," Maheshwari said.

He declined to provide any investment details.

Headhunters say aggressive hiring by companies like Hewlett-Packard, IBM and CSC is building up pressure on local software firms already struggling with tighter margins.

India is the most fancied destination for remote work among CSC's network of company-owned operations in countries such as South Africa, Canada, Malaysia and Australia, Maheshwari said.

"We have started migrating to India technical infrastructure work CSC is doing for its customers. This consists of technical help desks and storage management," Maheshwari said.

CSC has one centre in Indore and two units in Noida, near New Delhi.

A third centre in Noida, which will have a capacity to house 500 employees, is expected to be ready by December and another facility will be set up in south India this year.