Accenture Ltd said it planned to more than double its staff in India to 10,000 people in 12 to 14 months, taking advantage of relatively low wages paid to software engineers in the country.

"We expect all segments to grow as we go forward but the business process outsourcing sector is growing more rapidly," Martin Cole, global managing partner for Accenture's outsourcing group, recently said at a news conference in Bangalore, according to wire service accounts.

Accenture, of course, will face some formidable challenges, as it will encounter competitors like Infosys Technologies and Wipro Ltd.

In its most recent quarter, Accenture's profit tripled as outsourcing revenue rose 41 percent, while consulting revenue was unchanged after several quarters of decline.

"Clearly, our significant growth is happening here in India," Cole reportedly said. "Accenture's strategy is to be a high-value services provider. We are not driving to be a low-cost provider."

Accenture currently has about 4,300 people in India and has nearly tripled its workforce in the country in the past two years.

It provides a range of services from India, including software application, accounting and insurance processing, contact centers and help desk centers for more than 80 clients.

India's software sector, including the back-office services industry, added about 130,000 jobs—nearly 25 percent—to its workforce in the year ended last March, bringing the total to about 650,000.

Oracle said in August it aimed to nearly double its workforce in India to about 6,000 by late 2004, hiring people for software, product support, consulting and back-office work.

IBM is estimated to have more than 5,000 people in India and is still expanding. Computer Sciences Corp said in June it planned to double its staff to about 1,600 by April 2004.