China’s Guizhou province opens doors to Indian IT firms

May 29, 2015 12:03 am | Updated 02:11 am IST - Guian New Area (China):

Foxconn's industrial robots are displayed during the Big Data Expo in Guiyang, Guizhou province earlier in the week.

Foxconn's industrial robots are displayed during the Big Data Expo in Guiyang, Guizhou province earlier in the week.

China’s Guizhou province has opened its doors to top Indian cyber companies, in tune with the impulse imparted during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit that the India-China economic engagement is now ready to expand to the provincial level.

Big Data is the focus of the Information Technology (IT) plan conceived by the Guizhou local government, which wants Indian IT majors to take care of the software end.

“The concentration on Big Data and not a crowded field is a smart decision and encourages greater chances of success,” Kamal Dhuper, country head of the National Institute of Information Technology (NIIT), told The Hindu on Wednesday. Big Data refers to large volumes of data that can be mined to reveal valuable real time information.

At the first meeting of the newly formed China and India IT Industry Development Forum, in the Guian New Area (GNA), Chinese officials stressed that they were rapidly building infrastructure required for Cloud Computing and Big Data. But support from Indian IT firms was required to create a human talent pool, along with software input, so that the accumulating hardware assets could be fully utilised.

“We need Indian companies to develop talent. The IT industry of the two countries is complementary and advantageous for each other,” observed Geng Guigang, deputy general manager of the GNA Development Investment Company, which is steering the development in a lush green enclave against the backdrop of forested hills.

Positive response

India’s IT majors have responded positively to the GNA initiative. “IT development in the GNA has the resources, full governmental support and the required infrastructure. Big Data prospects look bright, but we have to now look at the details,” says Sujit Chatterjee, president of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) in China. Rajib Mehra, Wipro’s general manager (Auto, Aero and Defence) in China, agrees. “We are positively inclined for a possible investment, and are awaiting guidance from a joint task force that has been formed during out meeting,” Mr. Mehra said.

The task force, whose findings are expected to yield concrete business deals, would be steered by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and authorities in the GNA.

Reposing full confidence in its future, NIIT has been a first mover from the Indian IT sector in the GNA. Chinese IT heavyweights, including Foxconn and Baidu, have already opened shop in the GNA’s Electronic Information Industrial Park. India’s promising engagement with the Ghuizo province is fast becoming a two-way street. Last month, the Guizhou Maritime Silk Road International Investment Corporation (GIIC) signed a framework MoU for setting up an industrial park in Kakinada SEZ in Andhra Pradesh.

The business interaction at the local levels, prompted Namgya Khampa, economic counsellor at the Indian embassy in Beijing, to observe that India and China were “transitioning into the next phase of our economic partnership,” involving multiple stakeholders at the level of states and provinces.

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