Notwithstanding the backlash over outsourcing in the United States, information technology outsourcing firm Keane Inc on Tuesday announced its plans to invest an additional $25 million in expanding its BPO and IT service operations in India, and said it would more than triple its headcount to 5000 in the next two years.

"Keane continues to experience strong client satisfaction with its offshore delivery and we are seeing increased demand for solutions that leverage application outsourcing, business process outsourcing, and offshore delivery to achieve significant cost reductions and business improvement," Brian Keane, president and CEO of Keane Inc, said in New Delhi.

The company currently employs 1,600 professionals in India, of which 1,300 employees are in application space and the remainder in BPO.

Keane said, "We expect to grow to 5,000 people in two years. Of this 3,000 will be in application development and management and 2,000 in BPO."

The investment in BPO would be channelised through Worldzen which provides BPO delivery in India. Keane had acquired 62 per cent stake in Worldzen (now Keane Worldzen) in October 2003 to expand its services delivery into the business process outsourcing arena.

While the additional investment of $25 million would be pumped into organic growth, he said, Keane was also eyeing acquisitions in India.