"The centre will come up in August and we are planning to train around 1,000 professionals in our first year of operation in Dalian. Later, we are aiming to scale it up to 10,000 a year in the next three years," said NIIT President Prakash Menon on Thursday.

The Delhi-based company also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Shui On Land to set up training facilities inside an upcoming software park being built by the top Chinese real estate developer in Dalian, an IT hub.

The MoU was signed at the China International Software and Information Service Fair 2008 (CISIS) between NIIT Chief Executive Vijay Thadani and Shui On Land Chairman Vincent Lo.

"As China moves from a manufacturing-led economy to service-led economy, the IT services sector offers huge growth opportunities for companies," he said.

China would continue to grow at 8 per cent to 10 per cent per annum in the next few years and there was immense potential for IT training and education in the country, he said.