The company has identified India among the three top investment destinations in Asia for venture funding related to PC manufacturing.

Intel is in the final stages of signing as many as five to six deals ranging between $1 million and $4 million. Most of the companies are likely to be located in Bangalore and Hyderabad.

Intel is the world's largest venture capital funding firm. It has invested close to $300 million in 110 information technology firms worldwide, half of which are outside the United States. There are indications that the company is keen to put more thrust on funding ventures in India.

At a press conference here on Monday, Intel chief executive officer and president Craig Barrett reaffirmed Intel's commitment to enable and grow the ITmarket and its infrastructure in India. ``Intel continues to invest in India, in manpower, training, market development, ennoblement and support, but there is no plan to establish a manufacturing facility such as wafer fabrication in India,'' he said.

Barrett said once the market stabilised after a shake out, the sub $1,000 PC market will see a lot of action. His company will continue to innovate and integrate its products, he added. Barrett also said that the company's cutting of 3,000-odd jobs this year will have no impact on India.

Addressing the prime minister's task force earlier in the day, Barrett said that India's success depended on how fast it cleared the bottlenecks. India will have to move faster if it wanted to become a true leader in value-added software services, he said.

Barrett spoke about privatisation of the Internet and its access, besides rationalisation of duties and customs regulations on various IT components. The task force had enabled the country to be an active participant inthe global communications revolution, he said.

Barrett also suggested a three-pronged strategy to help India emerge as a global IT leader. ``India has the opportunity to become the leader in value-added services in E-commerce and entertainment software products,'' he said.