Hyderabad to host major IT meet

Monday, 22 November 2004, 20:30 IST
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HYDERABAD: The Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) Monday announced it would conduct its flagship event Gulf Information Technology Exhibition (GITEX) for the fourth consecutive year here in January. Helal Saeed Khalfan Al Marri, DWTC's director general, told a news conference the event would be held Jan 12-14 at HITEX, the convention centre near Hitec City. Al Marri expected double-digit growth in the size of the exhibition and number of participants over last year's event. The exhibition this year had a space of 1,400 square meters and attracted 80 exhibitors. Major companies like Microsoft, Reliance Infocom, Satyam Computers, Vanenberg Asia, HSBC, Dubai Internet City, Saif Zone Sharjah, BSNL, ELCOT are expected to participate in next year's event. "We are committed to make the Hyderabad edition of GITEX a leading IT event of India in the next few years," Al Marri said. "Andhra Pradesh, in particular Hyderabad, has emerged as one of the most important IT centres in India and the global IT industry." Coinciding with GITEX, the National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM), India's apex body representing the software and service industry, will organise an international conference on animation and gaming. The state government has renewed the memorandum of understanding with DWTC to organize GITEX Hyderabad for another three years. In an effort to give a further boost to the event, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy has announced that rentals for space at the exhibition centre would be reduced from 6,000 to 5,000 a square metre. Reddy, who addressed the news conference along with Al Marri, also announced a waiver of sales tax on items to be sold during the exhibition. He said GITEX Hyderabad was a business platform of international level organised to attract investment and to create a market for the national and international IT industry. GITEX is organized in different cities in the Middle East every year. GITEX Dubai is one of the five top exhibitions in the world. DWTC first organised GITEX Hyderabad in 2002 with 36 exhibitors. Last year, organisers added a new section, the GITEX computer shopper, to attract retail customers for IT hardware peripherals and electronic goods. With the state government exempting sales tax this time, the exhibition is expected to attract a larger number of customers.
Source: IANS