NEW DELHI: Communications software firm Aricent plans to invest USD 500 million or about Rs 3,000 crore in India over the next three years to boost its product development capacity in the country.

"From a corporate perspective, Aricent will be investing USD 500 million in the next three years in India, as it is the key geography for us," Aricent chief strategy officer Payal Koul Mirakhur said.

The US-based company develops software in communication segment and most of these software are made to control or manage function of hardwares in a system.

"We are a high growth company, growth is our focus. We want to increase our delivery capability by the same percentage out of our delivery centres in India. We will make this investment in people, lab and research and development," Mirakhur said.

Aricent has centres in Europe and the US as well but India continues to be its key delivery centre. It has offices in Gurgaon, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru.

Of the USD 500 million, the company has already invested USD 180 million to acquire India startup Smartplay which has expertise in development of digital, analog, wireless software and system design.

"The transaction is complete. We announced the merger on August 11, 2015. I am an Aricent employee now," Aricent Semiconductor Business Unit President Pradeep Vajram said.

Vajram was heading Smartplay before it got acquired by Aricent.

"We need to increase capacity across many segments. More specifically in India, we plan to grow the teams and basic customer requirements," Vajram said.

Talking about the business growth from domestic market, Mirakhur said that whole concept that government is coming up with is indirectly helping businesses to grow.

"This has encouraged global companies to work in India. Certainly it is a great step towards encouraging business in India," She said.

Aricent at present has 10,200 employees in India which includes 1,200 workforce that it acquired through Smartplay. The company has additional 1,000 employees working outside India.