The joint venture, in which chinadotcom will have 51 percent equity stake, will provide a range of outsourcing services to major software vendors and other firms in the United States, Europe and Asia, the Bangalore firm said.

The venture will include software development centres in India and China.

India has the largest pool of English-speaking graduates and software engineers outside the United States. Bangalore, the technology hub of India, is home to more than 1,000 global IT firms.

Foreign companies and information technology companies have shifted their research and development centres to India to take advantage of the labour costs, which equate to one-eighth of prevailing salaries in the United States.

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