By Rishika Sadam and Kashish Tandon

HYDERABAD, India, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Drugmaker Merck MRK.N, known as MSD outside of the U.S. and Canada, expects to increase its workforce across its India sites by the end of the year, a senior company executive said on Wednesday.

"By the end of this year, we expect to have roughly 2,700 employees. And in a couple of years, I fully expect we'll double that number or more," Executive Vice President Dave Williams said at the BioAsia conference in India's Telangana state.

Merck's India sites, which together employ around 1,800 people, focus on multiple therapy areas including oncology, diabetes, vaccines and animal health, as well as technology-related centers.

The U.S. drugmaker opened a new technology center in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad this week.

Williams, who heads the information and digital department, said the company is looking to hire "digital innovators" who can help business partners understand the role technology can play in reducing the time taken to get new treatments to patients.

(Reporting by Rishika Sadam and Kashish Tandon in Hyderabad; Writing by Mariam Sunny in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)

((Mariam.ESunny@thomsonreuters.com;))