New Delhi:  US-based engineering services company QuEST isgoing to double its Indian headcount from the current 750 to 1,600 in the nexttwo years to see more 'made by India'products in its range.

"We are very optimistic about India's growth.As of now, we have 1,000 employees around the world and 750 of them are in India,"said QuEST chief Ajit Prabhu

"We plan to increase this to 2,000 in the next twoyears and obviously, the Indiafigure will reach around 1,600," Prabhu told sources.

Mechanical, electronic and instrumentation engineers are theones being targeted by the Bangalore-based company that started its Indianoperations in 1998.

"Apart from India,we have 100 engineers in the USand 50 in Italy," addedthe mechanical engineering graduate from KarnatakaUniversity.

Founded by Prabhu and another Indian American, AravindMelligeri, in 1997, the Hartford, Connecticut-headquartered QuEST offersend-to-end product development and engineering solutions to major globalcompanies.

The firm also supports product development initiatives forits customers by leveraging its global product development (GPD) business modelthrough engineering centres established in North America, Europe and Asia.

QuEST's expertise ranges from concept design, detailing andanalysis, to product realisation solutions in aerospace, civil structures,power generation, industrial products, oil, gas and transportation sectors.

"Our employee profile is young. Only 10 percent of ourengineers have 25-30 years of experience," said Bejoy George, QuEST'svice-president for marketing and business development.

The fresh recruitment plans follow an approval for a300-acre plot in a special economic zone (SEZ) in Belgaum, Karnataka. "We are planning todevelop an eco-friendly plant in the SEZ where other companies can come andwork with our engineers and form joint ventures with us," Prabhu said.

Stating that the company had a $35 million revenue turnoverlast year, of which $29 million came from its India operations, Prabhu said thecompany is now looking at a 50-60 percent growth in the next one year.

"I know it will sound big, but yes, we are aiming tobecome a billion-dollar company in the next few years," said George,adding that the company's client list includes GE-Nouvo Pignone, SmithAerospace, Platt & Whitney, Toshiba Industrial Power Systems and Danaher.

Prabhu and George, who met National Association of Softwareand Services Companies (Nasscom) president Kiran Karnik here, are optimisticabout Indiaas an outsourcing destination for engineering services.

"Our meeting with Karnik was very fruitful and we arevery keen to promote Brand Indiafor engineering services," Prabhu said.

"I am sure our company canplay a key role in this endeavour,"he said.

"What we are looking at is globalised engineering in India, where a product is completelyconceptualised, designed and developed in India. We are looking at 'made by India' products rather than 'made in India',which basically means making products with ideas borrowed from outside,"George added.