NEW YORK – The governor of Indiana Eric J. Holcomb has announced that the Bengaluru-based engineering firm, AXISCADES, is planning to relocate their North American headquarters in Indiana next spring and create 500 jobs by the end of 2023.

The decision comes after Gov. Holcomb’s visit with government and business leaders to India last month as a part of his five-day economic development trade mission to strengthen partnerships between Indiana and India.

“As the first Indiana governor to travel to India, I was thrilled to work with the Karnataka government to establish a sister-state relationship with one of the most dynamic and technologically advanced states in India,” Governor Holcomb said in a press release.

“Today, we laid the groundwork for closer cooperation, and I look forward to our future collaboration as we work to advance business and educational opportunities to serve Hoosiers and the people of Karnataka,” he added.

The announcement comes at a time when President Donald Trump has become very skeptical of Indian IT companies, accusing them of taking away U.S. jobs.

AXISCADES provides engineering solutions to aerospace, defense, heavy engineering, automotive, energy, medical and health care companies and employs more than 1,900 associates across North America, Europe and Asia with approximately 250 of them stationed at the company’s offices in Peoria, Illinois, and Montreal, Canada and on-site at its clients’ facilities.

“This is part of our strategic initiatives to continuously evolve and invest in expanding across North America and to provide high-end technology solutions,” Sudhakar Gande, vice chairman of AXISCADES, said in a statement referring to its Indiana plans.

Indiana has become closely linked to Indian companies through their partnerships with companies like Infosys and Wipro.

Earlier this year, Infosys announced plans to establish a tech and innovation hub in central Indiana, focused on cutting-edge technology, including artificial intelligence and machine learning and investing $8.7 million, creating up to 2,000 new, high-skilled jobs.

In 2015, Appirio, a Wipro Company, announced plans to move its corporate headquarters to Indianapolis and grow its headcount from 150 to 577 associates by the end of 2020.

The Indiana Economic Development Corporation has also offered AXISCADES $4.3 million in conditional tax credits and $500,000 in training grants, which are pending approval from its board of directors and will be based on the company’s job creation plans.

Indiana and India share a number of economic, educational and cultural ties including the state’s exports to India which have increased by 117 percent since 2006, totaling

$266.6 million in 2016.

Infosys and Appirio have made significant job creation plans in recent years and more than 3,600 Indian undergraduate, graduate and professional students studied at Indiana University and Purdue University alone last year.