The chief executive of network computer maker Sun Microsystems Inc is due to visit India this month, the company said, to woo its army of software developers in the battle with rival Microsoft Corp.

Scott McNealy will spend a day each in New Delhi, the financial centre of Bombay and the technology capital of Bangalore during his first visit to India starting on March 20.

Sun and Microsoft are pushing rival standards - called .NET and SunONE respectively - in their battle to dominate Web Services, which involves connecting different computer systems to do business seamlessly over the Internet.

Microsoft chairman Bill Gates set the ground for a new tug-of-war between the two giants last November when his company announced $400 million in investments during his Indian visit.

Gates had then made a strong pitch aimed at winning over Indian developers to his standards.

"From the business point of view, the biggest core strength of our developers lies in India," K P Unnikrishnan, country head of marketing at Sun's Indian unit, said.

Analysts say India's programmers would be crucial in developing faster, better and cheaper software built around rival standards. Their comfort levels with competing technical blueprints can make a vital difference in the marketplace.

The number of Indian developers, with their high skills and low costs, is expected to grow to 1.3 million in four years from about 400,000 to 500,000 at present.

Unnikrishnan said McNealy will meet Sun's technology and sales partners including India's top three software giants: privately-held Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys and Wipro.

Sun has a 650-strong team in India, most of whom are software or computer experts working in an engineering centre.

McNealy will address 2,000 to 3,000 independent developers at a Sun conference in Bangalore.

"We have hundreds of developers in India and they could grow to thousands, depending on how fast the market grows," McNealy said last week in an interview to a financial daily.