Software major Microsoft, which has a large number of programmers, computer scientists and engineers from Tamil Nadu among its workforce, on Friday hinted that Chennai would figure high on its business expansion scheme.

The indication was given by Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, who called on Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, who invited him to invest in a high performance computing centre and an engineering product design and delivery centre in Chennai.

Even as Gates appreciated the inherent strengths of the pool of IT professionals available in this metropolis, Jayalalithaa assured him that the government would allot the required land and render whatever supported needed for setting up the company's facilities here, an official statement said.

On Wednesday, Gates unveiled a $1.7 billion investments plan to be implemented over the next four years.

• Bill Gates in India: Complete Coverage

During the 20-minute meeting, Gates also appreciated the Tamil Nadu Government's achievement in implementing AIDS control programme and said the state stood as a model for others.

Jayalalithaa too acknowledged the 'tremendous humanitarian work' carried out by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in AIDS prevention activities.

The foundation, which has committed huge funds to prevent spread of HIV in India, has launched a series of anti-AIDS initiatives in the state.

Jayalalithaa informed Gates and his wife that prevalence of HIV infection in the state, which was 1.25 per cent of the state's population in 2001, had come down to point 0.65 per cent in 2004.

Jayalalithaa told Gates that her government was firmly committed to leveraging information and communication technology (ICT) to leapfrog to the top in all spheres and bridging the digital divide.

Stating that a conducive physical and policy environment had been created in Tamil Nadu, she requested Gates to include Tamil Nadu in Microsoft's new programme to equip schools with computers.

With an aim of leveraging IT for the prosperity of the state's citizens, she said her government had launched an ambitious programme of taking computers to village panchayats and this would bridge the digital divide and take ICT to the grassroots.

She sought Microsoft's support for the scheme, to which Gates readily agreed, the statement said.

Earlier, Jayalalithaa launched a training programme christened 'Project Siksha' in which the Tamil Nadu government and Microsoft are partners.

Under the project, Microsoft would set up and run an Information Technology Academy for five years, during which teachers would receive 12 days training in computer literacy.

The project would function in Chennai, Madurai, Tiruchirapalli, Tirunelveli, Salem and Vellore and benefit 80,000 teachers directly and reach 35 lakh students during the period.

(Above) Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa pose for media representatives during a meeting in Chennai on Friday.

Photograph: Manan Vatsyayana/AFP/Getty Images