INTERVIEW-UPDATE 1-Tata Consultancy eyes China growth

* Plans to quadruple China staff to 5,000 next four years

* Says Asia Pacific revenues will grow in 2009

* Foresees more M&A in global IT services business

(Adds details, background)

By Kevin Lim

SINGAPORE, Dec 17 (Reuters) - Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) (TCS.BO: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Wednesday it planned to hire over 3,500 people in China over the next four years to grow its business and tap the country's large pool of IT engineers.

TCS, India's largest IT firm, also said it expects Asian revenues will grow next year despite the economic slowdown and retrenchments by the region's banks, due to its large pipeline of existing projects.

"We have 1,300 people in China at the moment in four centres and we are growing it... We plan to have 5,000 people in four years," Girija Pande, who heads TCS' Asia Pacific operations outside India, told Reuters in an interview.

TCS last month opened a global delivery centre in Tianjin, China to support local businesses as well as to provide business process outsourcing for Japan, the United States and Europe.