Benq plans R&D centre in Mumbai

Taiwanese IT company Benq Corporation plans to set up a research and development (R&D) centre in the city for designing software for mobile phones.

K Y Lee, chairman and CEO of Benq, said: "We will soon set up a technology centre in Mumbai for mobile phone software requirements, and will double headcount of software professionals from the current 50 in a year's time."

Declining to divulge investment details for the proposed centre, Lee said the company had invested over $150 million in R&D in 2004.

"We are looking at India as a global resource base, particularly for knowledge capital to aid us in developing embedded software for our digital lifestyle products. We will increase headcount of software professionals to several hundreds in the coming years," he added.

Lee said there are no plans to set up manufacturing facility in India. Benq has manufacturing plants in Malaysia, Mexico, China and Taiwan, he said.

Ashish Bakshi, country head of Benq India, said the company has 3.1% market share in mobile phones, and would aim at doubling its share. "Though the company has plans to enhance its product portfolio, we will focus on products like LCD monitor, projector, storage, scanner and mobile phones," he added.