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'Indian, Singapore IT firms need to focus on strategic JVs'
By siliconindia
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Tuesday, 07 October 2003, 19:30 IST
SINGAPORE: Embedded technology, enterprise applications and e-governance are likely to emerge as potential areas of cooperation between Singapore and India in the near future.
"These are some of the areas in which Singapore IT companies can offer expertise to their Indian counterparts, who have traditionally been strong in Unix and Java-based technologies," Singapore infocomm Development Federation (SiDF) chairman Saw Ken Wye told HindustanTimes.com in an exclusive interview at the iX2003 conference in Singapore.
Relations between India and Singapore in the area of information technology (IT) have been on the upswing in the recent past. Several Indian companies have opened their offices in the tiny island-nation to better serve their Asia-Pacific clients.
However, barring a few smaller joint ventures, there has not been any significant strategic joint ventures. This, felt Ken, is something on which Singapore and Indian companies need to focus on.
"IT companies from both the countries should come together to make systems and applications better and cheaper. The potential to jointly export to third countries is also huge", said Ken.
The SiTF chief's remarks highlight the importance that the Indian information technology industry has come to assume in Singapore. From having a token presence in the country just seven-eight years ago, most of the Indian IT majors have opened offices and even subsidiaries there now.
Indian companies have done well in Singapore, explained Ken, because there is no more the question of "can we trust the quality of Indian companies". "In fact, barring a few areas, Indian IT companies do not need Singapore companies at all", he confessed.
Nevertheless, experts point out that India can learn from the experience of Singapore IT companies in technology application in a few sectors including financial services and transportation, as well as e-governance.
Realising the importance of IT as a significant contributor to its gross domestic product (GDP), Singapore has been promoting the sector, including easing foreign ownership rules to encourage more overseas investments. "There is no restriction on foreign ownership. Indian companies can own even 100 per cent in Singapore companies in the IT sector", said Ken.
On the other hand, Singapore companies -- barring a stake in Bangalore IT Park by Singapore and a few other alliances with Indian companies -- have not yet found several partners in India.
"India as a market has good potential for Singapore companies, but remains challenging and exciting. Likewise, Singapore is a gateway to the Asia Pacific region for Indian companies", said Ken. "At SiTF, we try to do match making and introduce Singapore companies to their Indian counterparts. From there on, it is for the individual companies to take things forward", he added.
Besides, SiTF (the counterpart of India's Nasscom) organises conferences and exhibitions like iX2003 to help Singapore and foreign companies find new markets and partners. "We have been organising trade missions to India to basically get the word across on how Singapore is a good place to do business in", Ken added.
(source: Hindustan Times)