New Delhi: The Centre has directed the paramilitary Sashastra Seema Bal, which guards the country's borders with Bhutan and Nepal, to deploy more soldiers and set up more outposts following India's recent Doklam stand-off with China, sources in the Union home ministry said.

"The move to increase deployment along the two borders has been prompted after intelligence reports suggested that China was trying to increase its influence in Bhutan and Nepal. It has been decided that the deployment of more soldiers will ensure better patrolling along the Bhutan frontier and avert a Doklam-like situation in the future," a ministry official said.

The Centre's decision came amid reports that suggested an increased deployment of the Chinese army in the Doklam area near the Sikkim-Bhutan-Tibet tri-junction.

This was after Delhi and Beijing had reached an understanding on "disengagement" on the Doklam plateau and committed to avoiding a repeat of the circumstances that sparked the crisis - Chinese road-building work on disputed territory and Indian troops intervening on foreign soil.

India and China will hold the next round of border talks in Delhi on Friday, their second since the Doklam standoff.

National security adviser Ajit Doval will be India's special representative. Yang Jiechi, state councillor and a Communist Party politburo member, will represent China.

In August, India and China had pulled their troops back after a 10-week standoff on the disputed plateau. India had withdrawn all its soldiers to its territory, while China drew back most of its military personnel from the area that is claimed by both Beijing and Thimphu, leaving some to continue the patrolling operations it has long pursued there.

The SSB guards the 699km Bhutan border and the 1,751km-long border with Nepal. Earlier known as the Special Service Bureau, the paramilitary force was formed in March 1963 after the 1962 war with China. The force now has nearly 70 battalions (around 70,000 personnel).

"It has been decided that the number of troops, especially on the Bhutan frontier, will be doubled," the official said.<>

Sources said better patrolling would help the force to keep a close watch on the movement of Chinese troops in the area and thwart possible incursions.

In July the Narendra Modi government had sanctioned the creation of a full-fledged intelligence wing under the SSB in the middle of an escalating stand-off with China. Sources said the Centre created 650 combatised posts keeping in mind the frequent border skirmishes and the stand-off with an economically aggressive Beijing.