VMware, a leading innovator in enterprise software, on Wednesday announced its plan to invest $2 billion in India over the next five years as part of the company's overall global investment strategy.

This investment will enable the company to expand to new offices in Bengaluru and Pune as well as increase headcount and capital expenditure for R&D, and to support its growing sales operations in India, VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger said at an event in Delhi.

"India is a key cornerstone of our overall global investment strategy, providing outstanding engineering talent for our global R&D operations that are helping to drive innovation across our entire product portfolio.VMware remains committed to providing innovative technologies that help drive our customers" digital transformation," Pat said.

By marking the 20th Anniversary of VMware today in Bangaluru, VMware is present in India from last 10 years, over the past 13 years, VMware's operations across R&D, sales and marketing as well as business support services have expanded in India, with more than 5,000 employees today supporting its business locally and globally. VMware's primary India sites include its facilities in Bengaluru, Pune and Chennai.

"I will be honoured to meet with Prime Minister Modi later today (Wednesday). We are grateful for the current environment in India where VMware can continue to grow, invest, and create jobs and opportunities for India's IT workers of today and tomorrow," Gelsinger further said.

VMware, in partnership with Women Who Code India , has committed to train 15,000 women over the next two years in diverse technology areas, providing a platform for more women with previous experience in IT to upskill themselves in digital technologies. This new programme, called "VMware VMinclusion Taara: Women Return to Work" programme, is expected to launch on December 1.

Several organisations like Bharti Airtel and Cognizant plan to support the programme and are open to a consideration process for relevant IT openings within their organisations for women certified in VMware solutions as a result of Project Taara.

VMware software powers the world’s complex digital infrastructure. The Company’s compute, cloud, mobility, networking and security offerings provide a dynamic and efficient digital foundation to over 5,00,000 customers globally, supported by an ecosystem of 75,000 partners and owns 1,816 patents as of February 2018. In an exclusive reply to VARINDIA, why you have chosen India as the investment destination, Pat said,it is the right time to invest in India, because of the commitment of the Government towards digital India and we have 5,000 employees working in India, out of total 23,000 are working globally. We expect India to role the global market. India has a deep pool of talented, creative people that can help fuel our innovation now and in the future. India is among the fastest growing markets for VMWare but that still seems like scratching the surface, given the opportunity that the company sees in the country. Upbeat about the current business environment in the country, Pat said that enabled VMware to continue to grow, invest, and create jobs and opportunities in India.

Arun Parameswaran, vice-President and Managing Director, VMware India, added that the company’s initiatives in the country also support Indian Government policies like Digital India. “India has a deep pool of talented, creative people that can help fuel our innovation now and in the future,” he said.