Oracle Corp, world's number two software company, plans to hire about 2,000 lower-paid software developers in India in the next two years.

Oracle's growing employee base in India and China is part of an increasing trend to shift operations, especially support operations, to developing countries, the Silicon Valley Business Ink reported.

According to Forrester Research Inc about 3.3 million jobs in software, product development, back-office accounting and call centre support will move offshore to India, Malaysia, China, Russia and the Philippines in the next 15 years.

Hit by dot-com bust, the California-based software giant has cut some 1,000 jobs in North America in the last two years.

Oracle has eliminated about 1,000 jobs in North America in last two years. The software giant's 10-K filing with the Securities Exchange Commission last May said, "research and development personnel increased 12 per cent, expenditures decreased due to the hiring of personnel in India and China where personnel costs are significantly lower than in the US."

Oracle employs 2,460 people at offices in Hyderabad and Bangalore. The publications said that the additional 2,000 proposed jobs in India come as Oracle makes cuts to its bottom line, as revenues for the fourth quarter of 2002 fell 7 per cent compared to the previous quarter.