Trilogy Software Inc, one of the world's largest privately held software companies, plans to invest Rs 200 crore (Rs 2 billion) [$45 million] over the next three years in its operations in India.

The investment would be made in the areas of research and development, product development, human resources, marketing and support, senior company officials told reporters in Bangalore.

"India will become the hub for Trilogy's core product development work," they said.

Trilogy India employs 100 people and plans to increase the strength to 250 by the end of this year and to 400 by 2005.

"We are moving our core development operations to India and we believe that the work done out of this centre will play an essential and critical role in further escalating our business," Joe Liemandt, founder and CEO of Trilogy, said.

Liemandt inaugurated the company's new 32,000 sq. ft. software development facility in Bangalore. The India centre would be upgraded and expanded from a satellite centre to become an independent organisation, officials said.

Chinnikrishna Kommi, managing director of Trilogy E-Business Software India Pvt. Ltd, said Trilogy India would focus on complete and absolute product development for global markets.

"This centre will act as an incubator for requirements of Trilogy's new verticals," he added.

According to company officials, Trilogy is a leading provider of industry-specific enterprise software for the automotive, communications, computer hardware, and insurance industries.