Microsoft has said it would double its investments in India and the employee strength in the small and medium business segment to expand its reach in the country by the year end.

"We are doubling our investments and headcount in the country and expanding to more number of cities. By the end of this year we will have presence in 32 Indian cities," Microsoft India Managing Director Neelam Dhawan said.

She, however, refused to quantify the investment plans.

While unveiling the company's expansion strategy in India, Dhawan said Microsoft launched an integrated Enterprises Resource Planning (ERP) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution 'Navision 4.0' aimed at SMB segment.

"Navision 4.0 is exclusive software for SMB segment and we expect to double our MBS business with the new Navision version," she added.

"About 1.8 million entities are from SMB segment and we are coming with a tailor-made solution for this segment," she said, adding the company is expecting to double its business in a year's time.

Navision is a SMB specific ERP solution with applications in finance management, supply chain management, manufacturing and distribution.

Microsoft also announced the entry of an integrated business solution called Microsoft Dynamics, infrastructure solution, namely Microsoft Windows Server Centro, and a Windows Server System Assessment and Deployment software.

The global giant will join hands with over 3,000 partners across the country for software distribution.

( www.financialexpress.com)