Indian Information Technology group, Tech Mahindra, inked a deal last week with Comverse, an Israeli-American engineering company to open a research and development center in Israel, Reuters reported Wednesday.

Manish Vyas, president of Tech Mahindra’s communications group, told Reuters the deal — which would bring the Indian company hundreds of engineers — will help the firm more than double its engineering business revenue within a few years. The company does about $400 million annually in engineering, about half of that is in telecoms.

“Engineering is a very large part of our business but we want to make it even bigger. We believe it can be a billion dollars annually in the next few years,” he said. “Given the culture of entrepreneurship in Israel we need to be here.”

Under the “strategic relationship”, Tech Mahindra will be responsible for R&D and customer services while Comverse will be in charge of product management and sales.

Tech Mahindra is the division of India’s Mahindra conglomerate focused on technology.

Vijeta Uniyal, an analyst who focuses on ties between India and Israel, contextualized the move in a post published in The Times of Israel, writing, “Tech Mahindra’s latest investment in Israel’s technology landscape comes on the heels of big investments made by other Indian multinationals. Israel-India bilateral relations have considerably improved since Prime Minister Narendra Modi took office 10 months ago.”

[Photo: Tech Mahindra / YouTube ]