Satyam Computer Services Ltd, India's fourth-largest software company, plans to hire more Chinese engineers and programmers to expand its business of writing computer software for clients in China and Japan.

The company, which opened a software centre in Shanghai in January last year, has 20 Chinese programmers out of a staff of about 30 people, said Virender Aggarwal, chief of Asia-Pacific operations.

Satyam may hire as many as 150 programmers, he said, adding China is one of the fastest-growing areas in the region.

Satyam, which writes programmes for companies such as China's biggest Internet equipment maker, Huawei Technologies Co, wants to bring its business closer to Asia's fastest-growing economy to serve clients better.

"The Chinese domestic information technology market is likely to expand by 50 per cent over the next five to six years," said Som Mittal, chairman of India's National Association of Software and Service Companies, at a press conference in Shanghai.

"China is strong in product development and hardware. This creates opportunities to work together," he said.