Visiting Sun Microsystems chief Scott McNealy announced, on Thursday, that the company would donate software worth $300 million to student researchers in India for non-commercial usage.

"This donation is for giving them access to our software. The donation would also be with respect to online training for universities and academic use," McNealy told reporters after a meeting with Communications and IT Minister Arun Shourie in New Delhi.

Speaking on the occasion, Shourie said the government and the Sun Microsystems team led by McNealy discussed possible areas of cooperation.

During the talks with the Indian government, issues related to taking advantage of open interface and open source technology were discussed, McNealy added.