Satyam Computer Services, India's fourth-largest software exporter, is seeking acquisition opportunities in China to bolster its expansion in the nation.

"We are studying local outsourcing companies for acquisition possibilities," said Rama Raju, Satyam's chief executive officer. "Those companies should have capacity in niche areas such as telecom and manufacturing and help us better tap the Chinese market."

Raju declined to give details of the acquisition plan but said the company has been considering the issue for a while.

"We've seen our sales from China double in 2006, although it's still a tiny proportion compared with our global revenue," said Raghvendra Tripathi, head of Satyam's China operation.

Ninety percent of Satyam's business in China currently comes from its multinational clients here, with local companies accounting for the rest.

The Hyderabad-based company has been ramping up its operations in China, a new low-cost location for outsourcing services. The company said earlier it expected to increase its headcount in China to more than 3,000 by 2008, from around 400 today.

Satyam opened a new global delivery campus yesterday in Nanjing, the capital of East China's Jiangsu Province. The campus, which will have 2,500 engineers within three years, will become Satyam's largest development facility outside India.

Currently, the Indian firm has three development centers in Shanghai, Dalian and Guangzhou. It also has a sales office in Beijing, which it will expand in March.

Source: China Daily