30 Indian companies to participate in Germany tech fair

Monday, 16 February 2004, 20:30 IST
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NEW DELHI: As many as 30 Indian companies, mainly software makers, are likely to participate in one of the world's leading fairs for IT, telecom and software industries to be held in Germany next month. The National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom) and Electronics and Computer Software Export Promotion Council (ESC) will jointly lead the Indian delegation at the CeBIT 2004 technology trade show. CeBIT 2004 will be held from March 17-24 in Hanover, Germany. Taiwan will head the list of participant countries with over 700 exhibitors followed by Britain with 200 and the US with nearly 190 companies, said an official of the Indo-German Chamber of Commerce. "Traditionally, the entire Pacific Rim region, including India, has been very well represented at CeBIT. This year the number of direct exhibitors from this region will again top the 1,200 mark," the official told IANS. Over 6,500 exhibitors from 60 countries are expected to participate in CeBIT 2004. Of these, 2,700 exhibitors will be foreign participants. Organisers say software would be the focus area of the high-profile technology exhibition this year. The show will help software companies to adopt new strategies to stay competitive in the slowing global marketplace. The worldwide information and communication technology (ICT) industry has doubled its sales in the last ten years. In the past three years, however, ICT industry has considerably slowed down and stagnated worldwide due to a combination of adverse factors such as a global economic slowdown, threats of terrorism, SARS, and the Iraq war. Countries in Pacific Rim area like China, Australia and India are experiencing high growth in the ICT sector, said the CeBIT 2004 organisers. On the back of a vast pool of English-speaking, tech savvy and cheap manpower, India's IT market has grown from $1.73 billion in 1994-95 to $16.5 billion in 2002-03, accounting for three percent of gross domestic product last year. The country's software exports totalled $9.5 billion in the fiscal year that ended on March 31, 2003. According to Nasscom, software exports could grow at 26 to 28 percent during the current fiscal year ending March 2004. "We naturally consider it our mission to see the shape of things to come well ahead of the rest and to adapt CeBIT accordingly so that exhibitors can flourish even in the face of changing market conditions," said the Indo-German chamber official. Some of the key topics that CeBIT 2004 will focus on include outsourcing, government and public services, bank and finance systems, research and development, and IT security. E-governance will also be a key area of deliberation at the show that attracted 556,000 visitors last year.
Source: IANS
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