FTD in plan to expand Bangalore subsidiary

The Singapore-based FTD Technology Pvt Ltd plans to expand the operations of its Bangalore-based subsidiary, Future Techno Design Pvt Ltd (FTD), with more investments, and by hiring more people.

FTD, with around 100 engineers in Bangalore, is a specialist in software tools for IC design involving VLSI and ASIC.

In February last year, it set up a "dedicated centre of excellence", SoCrates Software India Ltd, in Bangalore that would do embedded software work for the $40 billion Japanese electronic products company Toshiba Corporation. SoCrates has around 200 engineers.

Mohan Loke, chief executive officer of FTD (India), said the company would increase the employee strength in both FTD and at SoCrates.

By October this year, around 50 engineers would be hired to work for SoCrates and by December, another 100 would be taken on board.

Most of the $4.5 million for setting up SoCrates came from Toshiba. SoCrates would primarily execute projects for the $6 billion Toshiba Semiconductor Company, a subsidiary of the parent company, in the areas of wireless technologies, mixed signals, and analog signals.

The two former senior officials from Toshiba and another Japanese conglomerate Hitachi, visited FTD. At a press meet, they said that their former employers, who now retained them as 'advisors', were looking to opportunities to set up specialist bases in India.