At the India launch of Oracle's new e-business software for the Asia Pacific region, Derek Williams told a press conference the Chinese and Indian markets would outstrip the more mature markets of Japan and Australia.

"I have had a dream. It now looks like it could turn into reality in a couple of years. China will be the biggest market in the Asia Pacific region and India will be number two," said Williams.

"I cannot give an exact time frame for the change but it will happen in a couple of years."

Oracle said Japan was currently its biggest IT market in the region followed by China, Singapore and Australia.

India is Oracle's fifth-largest market in Asia in terms of revenue, up from tenth two years ago, and boasts the largest research and development investment outside the United States.

Last month, Oracle chairman Larry Ellison said the company would more than double the number of software engineers it employs in India to 6,000.

Williams said the company had already started hiring "highly educated" software development engineers for its centres in the southern cities of Bangalore and Hyderabad.

"We are on track and are rolling out our investments for Bangalore and Hyderabad. Oracle India today employs 3,159 people. We will double this staff strength in the next 12 months," said Williams.

"India holds great promise as a domestic market for Oracle software but it holds even more promise as a software research and development hub."

Oracle also recently launched an e-governance centre in Gurgaon, on the outskirts of the Indian capital.

The centre, set up in partnership with US-based firm Hewlett Packard, can be accessed from anywhere in the world through the Internet, enabling governments worldwide to view e-governance applications.

It also supports any future e-governance initiatives by central, state and local government bodies in India.

"In India, e-governance is at an advanced or more advanced state than a lot of European countries. And e-governance will be an engine for growth along with India's booming telecommunication industry," said Williams.

The Gurgaon e-governance centre is likely to be a testbed to determine whether Oracle sets up similar centres worldwide.

Oracle already runs the India Development Centre, India Support Centre and Oracle Solution Services India.

It started its Indian subsidiary, Oracle India Private Ltd., in August 1993.

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