China likely to participate in BangaloreIT.Com

Monday, 16 June 2003, 19:30 IST
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BANGALORE: China has for the first time shown interest in participating in Asia's largest IT event, BangaloreIT.Com, scheduled in this Indian city in November. "We are still not certain if their (Chinese) companies would be participating or it would be sending a delegation, but they have sought several details from us," said Pradeep Gupta, the chairman and managing director of Cybermedia, event managers for the show. China's interest is being seen in India's tech capital as an indication of the growing importance of BangaloreIT.Com, in which the number of participating countries is expected to go up from 16 to 25 this year. About 300 companies are expected to participate in BangaloreIT.Com 2003 to look for trade, commerce and cooperation opportunities. IT is the only area in which India has an upper hand over China. The U.S., Britain, Germany, Hong Kong and Belgium have already confirmed participation and there have been "very positive indications from countries like China, Canada and New Zealand," Vivek Kulkarni, Karnataka's IT secretary, told a news conference here. "We have doubled the area for the IT nations pavilion this year. And the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have replaced the big IT companies' pavilion next to that. The focus this year is on the SME sector that contributed 63 percent to India's software exports," Kulkarni said. "Along with Nasscom (National Association for Software and Services Companies) we are planning to organise a one-on-one meeting with the SMEs and foreign companies," he added. "Looking at the participation from foreign countries as well as other states in India, it is clear now that BangaloreIT.Com is a major event in South Asia. There has been a downturn globally, but Bangalore has continued to show growth," D.B. Inamdar, Karnataka's IT minister, said. This year's event, being held on the usual dates of November 1-5, would have additional features like a VIP taking a class for participants in the Student Internet World that provides exposure to the Net to 30,000 schoolchildren, 70 percent of them from rural areas. President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam had last year conducted a class during his interaction at the Student Internet World. "This year a company executive can sponsor and take a class and teach the students something about the Internet," Kulkarni said. Separate summits for outsourcing and a regulator (like immigration officials) would also be held apart from an IT quiz for rural students. "The 'IT for Common Man' conference would focus on open source computing," he added. The event, to be held at the picturesque Bangalore Palace grounds, would be spread over 20,000 square metres, up from 15,000 square metres last year with 11 pavilions instead of nine.
Source: IANS