INDIA Partnering Emergent Economies to Recovery
 

Nasscom.in, November, 2009

Dear colleagues,

Is growth and hiring back in the Indian IT-BPO sector? This question is the most debated and discussed across our companies, media and government today. The second quarter results of the listed companies certainly indicate, that the outlook is becoming more positive. However, I do think it is too early to revisit the NASSCOM forecast of a 4-7 per cent growth for FY2010.

It is also interesting to note the comments by Klaus Schwab, Chairman of the World Economic Forum, at the India Economic Summit, who said that “in the real economies, there are no significant signs of recovery”. This does indicate the need for an approach that is based on cautious optimism.

The last few weeks have witnessed enhanced interest in India across emerging economies and the key markets. Delegations from Columbia, Chile and Israel have been visiting the country and holding sessions with NASSCOM members on business and investment linkages. Social security agreements have been implemented with Germany and Switzerland, and senior government officials visiting from Denmark and Argentina have reiterated the need to engage more with the Indian IT-BPO sector.

Along with the thrust on new markets, is a sustained effort by NASSCOM to build linkages with the domestic Indian market. This includes enhancing the role of the NISG (National Institute of Smart Governance) through industry partnerships, identifying key challenges in government procurement processes and creating case studies on the impact of e-governance.

The Unique Identification Authority of India is one of the most talked about projects in the country and has very high expectations from all stakeholders. The simple step of not issuing a card, but just focusing on a unique number for all residents of India, backed with biometrics is ambitious, but implementable. NASSCOM is setting up a consultative committee that can assist the UID team on process frameworks, architecture and biometric profiling.

Product development and innovation has been another key focus area for NASSCOM. The recently concluded NASSCOM Product Summit, witnessed participation from over 1,000 delegates. NASSCOM’s Product Forum is building a strategy to play the role of the market maker, collaborate with ecosystem players and help in building this sector.

On the innovation front, the NASSCOM and IKP-promoted India Innovation Fund, announced its first closing with a corpus of INR 40 crore. This fund is based on a collaborative model wherein large, diverse institutions as anchor investors not only provide the capital, but more importantly, provide the investee companies with market access and technology development guidance.

As a part of its initiative to create regional balanced growth, NASSCOM also partnered with state governments and local associations to host discussion sessions, conferences at Chandigarh, Indore and Kolkata.

In the area of policy meanwhile, we have begun putting together our recommendations for Budget 2010 and I would urge all of you to please send in your suggestions to NASSCOM at the earliest.