NASSCOM signs pact with Malaysia's Multimedia Development Corp

National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Malaysia's Multimedia Development Corp (MDC), Malaysia, to increase trade and cooperation in the IT software and services sector between India and Malaysia. 

The agreement was signed by Dewang Mehta, President, NASSCOM and Dr Othman Yeop Abdullah, Executive Chairman, Multimedia Development Corp. This MoU was signed in the presence of Leo Moggie, Minister of Energy, Communications and Multimedia, Malaysia who is leading a business delegation to India.

Dewang Mehta said, "After the successful conclusion of the India-Malaysia software seminar held at Kuala Lumpur in August 2000 followed by a successful visit of Dr Othman to India last year, NASSCOM and MDC felt that there is vast untapped potential to grow the IT trade between the two countries and have decided to formally work together in this direction".

Dr Othman said, "Both MDC and NASSCOM recognise that they share many common goals, including building bridges with global technology centers to establish linkages in furtherance of the development of the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) and the Indian software industry". He further added, "The MoU between MSC and NASSCOM, will further strengthen the collaboration in various IT fields and develop a project-oriented cooperative arrangement to promote the growth of the IT sector".

"In 1999-2000, Indian software exports to Malaysia was worth Rs 82 crore ($ 17 million) and is expected to increase to Rs 120 crore ($ 26 million) in 2000-01," Dewang Mehta added. At the same time, India imports telecom and IT products and services from Malaysia. There exist various synergies between India and Malaysia to cooperate in the IT sector and this MoU is the first step in this direction. Dewang Mehta further elaborated that, by 2004-05, our target is to increase India's software exports to Malaysia to an annual Rs 600 crore ($ 125 million) and to almost Rs 1,400 crore ($ 300 million) by 2007-08. 

According to this agreement, both countries will contribute to the mutual growth and development of their respective information and communication technology industries and help to expedite and maintain the co-operative relations between the two organizations. Speaking on the occasion, Dewang Mehta said, "NASSCOM will help MDC companies to find and match-make business alliances in India, whereas we will also promote Indian companies to open subsidiaries in the multimedia supercorridor in Malaysia".

Dr Othman said, "The MSC has the ideal environment for leading-edge and innovative IT and multimedia companies to harness Malaysia's unique competitive advantages that arise from multicultural links, committed leadership, and proven track record in developing products and services for regional and global markets". He further added that, together with the comprehensive package which include both soft and hard infrastructures such as Cyberlaws, financial and non-financial incentives and world class infrastructure would enable Indian companies to set up their operations immediately in the MSC.

NASSCOM has identified telecom software, e-commerce, multimedia, embedded software, ASP, e-CRM, e-learning as some of the major export sectors from India to Malaysia, whereas it expects to import hardware, telecom products and the IT services provided by MDC companies to India.

The NASSCOM-MDC MoU was followed by an MoU signing between a leading company in Malaysia--VMS Technology SDN BHD and an Indian company--Neutron Electronics. Some of the features of the NASSCOM- MDC Memorandum of Understanding are that it would jointly explore co-operative projects that can be accomplished through employing IT between MDC and NASSCOM or their member companies in the area of IT and multimedia. It has been agreed to exchange information and share ideas about strategies and best practices in nurturing local IT and multimedia companies, access to venture capital and funding and networking amongst identified incubators. The agreement also proposes to facilitate joint ventures and strategic alliances between companies from the two countries and to cooperate in market advancement in the form of strategic alliances or cross-marketing projects of the software developers in both countries. 

Facilitation of exchange of information, research and survey reports and joint research along with co-organising conferences, exhibitions and workshops between the two countries was also agreed upon. Addressing the press meet after signing the MoU, Dr Othman said, "We are very excited to sign this co-operation pact as India and Malaysia are two leading names in the Asian IT industry and this pact will increase the velocity of business in IT trade between the two countries". According to NASSCOM, India has a global leadership in providing software services and customized solutions, whereas Malaysia has a highly sophisticated and state-of-the-art infrastructure and multimedia development capabilities.