New Delhi, Mar 14 (UNI) Science-based products and services provider DuPont will invest Rs 100 crore each year in its upcoming knowledge centre at Hyderabad, being built at the same outlay.

''We are investing an amount of Rs 100 crore for building the knowledge centre. Almost a similar amount will be required every year in maintaining and running the facility with a staff of over 300 scientists,'' said Mr Balvinder Singh Kalsi, President and CEO of DuPont India, a subsidiary of 29 billion dollars EI du Pont de Nemours.

The company's first research and development knowledge centre in India, to be operational by first quarter of 2008, will focus on discovery research as well as application development in various areas.

It has signed an agreement with ICICI Knowledge Park for a long-term lease for the facility.

''The centre will provide services like basic research and development high-end knowledge besides high-end enginnering designing and IT solutions,'' Mr Kalsi told reporters here.

The company today also announced setting up of its first plant biotech research centre outside the United States at the facility in Hyderabad.

It has plant biotech centres in Delaware, Iowa and California along with 90 plant genetics research centres across the globe.

The biotech plant will accelerate the bringing of new crop genetics to the market and thus will support DuPont's seed business run as Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc.

The company expects to engage 100-150 genetics scientists by this year-end. Twenty crop genetics scientists have already begun working at leased facilities near the site.

Agriculture and nutritional products contribute nearly 26 per cent to the company's revenues.

UNI