Indiasoft concludes in Mumbai

At an event held in Mumbai, Electronics & Computer Software Export Promotion Council (ESC) India's apex trade promotion organization organized India's exclusive International B2B IT event called Indiasoft. The event was held from 26th-27th November at Hotel Renaissance in Mumbai.

Dr EMS Natchiappan, Minister of State for Commerce & Industry, Department of Industrial Policy and promotion, Government of India said that the recent initiatives of the government in the industrial and e-governance fronts would open up mindboggling opportunities for IT companies all over the world. At the event, Minister exhorts IT sector to focus on markets in untapped regions.

While inaugurating the India IT Show 2013 Indasoft 2013, the Minister said that the industrial corridors coming up in India, physically connecting all parts of India, and the breakthroughs in connecting people by the e-governance backbone would bring about paradigm shift in the industrial and IT landscape of India. "Investments, particular FDI is coming in these sectors, making IT an integral part of our industrial system," he said. He further added, "Many countries are taking advantage of this system. Indian presence in the IT domain of countries like Sri Lanka and Myanmar was considerable. We hope that countries in Latin America, Africa, etc. to take advantage of the Indian expertise for taking their digital programs to the next level."

The Minister, later inaugurated the Indiasoft exhibition, wherein 150 Indian exhibitors have displayed their products and solutions. Over 300 foreign delegates assembled here will be visiting these stalls to get to know the Indian products. It is expected that many business deals will be clinched at the end of the two-day meet. Importantly, 60 Indian companies are launching new products at the event. One of the important features of this year's Indiasoft event is the participation of  four IT companies from J&K, for the first time in the history of Indiasoft.

The inaugural session was graced by Dr Debrefsion Gebremichael, Dy Prime Minister for Finance & Economic Cluster and Minister of Communications and Informatics &IT and Board Chair of Ethiopian Electrical Power Corporation.

Importantly, an Memorandum of Understanding has been signed between ESC and MCF Japan, which provided for working together of two organizations, to enhance the cooperation in the ICT sector.

Lacing the increased application of IT in the Indian scene, the Minister stressed that it was already brought about far-reaching changes in the judiciary. Now the judgements, court orders, case histories and schedule of hearings are there in the net for Supreme Court, high courts and for some municipal courts. "These are well defined systems that can be adapted in other countries with great degree of success. Indian experts and IT companies can provide these facilities  in a cost effective manner," Natchiappan added.

Referring to the Look East Policy of the government, the minister observed that it was primarily aimed at the building sustainable trading relationships with countries in the region. Natchiappan said, "We have painstakingly built connectivity with several countries by laying cables under the sea and broad-banding these connectivity is possible bringing more and more countries closer to India."

The minister told that IT connectivity was critical to strengthen the pillars of democracy-that is executive, legislature and judiciary. Natchiappan said, "A strong IT infrastructure will bring these segments of democracy in close contact with the people and enable them to get the quick feedback from them."

Speaking at  the occasion, J Sathyanarayana, Secretary, Department of Electronics and IT, Ministry of Communications & IT Government of India, complimented the SME focus and business exclusivity of the Indiasoft shows and said that  IT infrastructure in India is becoming stronger with the establishment of newer STPIs, SEZs and specialized packages like Megharaj-based on cloud computing to help the farmers. He said that by 2020, the new IT policy has sought to increase the ICT trade in India by US$ 300 billion, of that exports would be US$ 200 billion and the remaining US$ 100 billion would  be from the domestic sector. "This can unbound a lot of opportunities not only for the Indian IT entrepreneurs but others as well," added Sathyanarayana. He also referred to the strong content of public-private partnerships in the implementation of the ICT projects in India and the stress laid for grooming up manpower for meeting the target set.

J K Dadoo, Joint Secretary, Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce & Industry said, "In the recent months IT exports were picking up and hoped that in the coming months these growths could be more pronounced taking into account the gradual phasing out of the slowdown trends in the developed countries." Referring to the opportunities in the financial sector, Dadoo mentioned that even if the RBI approves half of the total number of applications numbering 26 for granting banking licenses, it would give a great boost to the IT sector.  He also referred to the changes that are being contemplated in the offset policy of India to help the ICT sector in general and SMEs in particular. Informing that the Union Commerce Minister had recently taken up with the US authorities about the early conclusion of the totalization agreement between India and the US, he alluded that once signed, it would greatly help the Indian IT sector.

Vinod Sharma, Chairman, ESC, while explaining the twin objectives of Indiasoft said, "This is a vehicle to reach out to many countries and to diversify our market and also to move up in the value chain while  developing the software products and solutions."

Nalin Kohli, Chairman, Indiasoft Committee of ESC explained the rationale behind organizing the event and how it had evolved  over the years. D K Sareen, Executive Director, ESC in his vote of thanks explained the coverage and scope of the Indiasoft events and how it had contributed to higher realizations in the export front.