Digital marketing company Digitas is betting big on India -- not just in terms of tapping the market, but also on the prospects of using the local talent pool to service its global markets.

The company, which has about 300 employees in the country, is looking at increasing its headcount by 30 per cent annually.

"India is a unique opportunity. It is a huge offshoring market not just for the cost benefit, but also creativity is abundant," Digitas President International Stephan Beringer said.

"With global clients looking at markets like India and China, it is obvious that we need to mine the potential here," he added.

"The quality of people here is the same (compared to other markets), if not better. We are focusing on areas like analytics, search, technology and e-commerce platform for India," Digitas President APAC Vincent Digonnet said.

The company is also looking at acquisitions to grow its presence in the country. Digitas has two offices in India, at Delhi and Mumbai.

"We are open to acquisitions in areas of technology, mobile platforms, search, etc, any company which brings in a set of cutting edge next generation technologies as that is what will help us grow in the market here," Beringer said.

However, he declined to comment on the size of companies that could be acquired or the timeline.

Talking about digital marketing in India, Digonnet said sectors like FMCG, automobile, telecom and banking services, which are traditionally large spenders on traditional advertising, are also the biggest spenders on digital marketing.

"Internet penetration is increasing in the country, which is being driven by the youth. It also allows advertisers to measure the audience response and that is prompting advertisers to go big on digital advertising," Digonnet said.

Digitas counts Cisco, Microsoft, HP, Pepsi, ITC, Nestle, Samsung, Philips, Airtel, Canara HSBC and Audi, among others, as its clients.

According to a report by industry body Asscoham, the size of the Indian digital market industry is estimated to have reach USD 7.1 billion by the end of 2011, a growth of 14 per cent over 2010.