Software professionals in India can look forward to more job opportunities in the next one year as the infotech industry shows signs of recovery.

New outsourcing pacts and initiatives by global infotech majors like IBM, Accenture, EDS, PriceWaterhouseCoopers may lead to the creation of thousands of new jobs.

"Virtually every single global infotech services major is announcing new plans for India. They are all aiming to leverage the cost advantage India offers and provide services from India on an offshore model," Bob Hayward, vice-president of global research firm Gartner Inc, said.

In India, Accenture is expected to ramp up the number of software professionals from the current 1,000 to around 5,000 in the next 12 months - an annual growth of 268 per cent.

According to the National Association of Software and Service Companies, IBM Global Services will increase the number of software professionals from the current 2,200 to 6,500 by 2004 at a compounded annual growth rate of 43 per cent.

Similarly, EDS is planning to increase the number of employees in its software development centres in India to 5,000 by 2004 from the present strength of 600. 

A Nasscom official said leading companies like IBM Global Systems, EDS and consulting majors like PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Cap Gemini and Ernst and Young had decided to hire more professionals in India.

Companies providing the IT-enabled services also plan to expand their operations in India. GE, which initially had a target of 10,000 employees by 2005 for its IT-enabled services operations in India, had revised it up to 20,000 people by 2003 end.

According to Nasscom, the call centre company, Conseco, is planing two more centres in Noida and Mumbai.

An executive of a leading placement firm attributed this trend to the revival in the global economy and the growth in demand from the US.

Nasscom said the shifting of operations by global majors to India was also being driven by demands for lower billing rates by customers.

Experts, however, felt that the move by global majors to start operations in India, could lead to shrinking margins for the Indian software companies.

A Nasscom official said the US companies were looking at different ways to expand services.

While some were opening their own centres, others were looking at joint ventures and joint development centres.