NASSCOM urges Indian BPO firms to draw on Germanic nations’ SMEs
A recent report released by the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM), the nodal body for Indian IT and ITeS industry, states that the small and medium enterprise (SME) sector provides and excellent opportunity for Indian firms in the space of IT services, BPO and engineering services.
The report ‘Opportunities for Indian IT – BPO industry in Germanic countries’ was prepared jointly by NASSCOM and the global consultancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). The report centers on discovering joint venture prospects for firms in India and the Germanic nations – Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Sweden, and their associated territories – in the space of IT services, engineering services and BPO.
Quoting PricewaterhouseCoopers executive director Sankar, a news website reports that a huge demand in the SME sector has a vast requirement for IT and ITeS services that has not been exploited thus far. He further said that the Indian IT and ITeS firms have quick-win prospects in different verticals, including manufacturing, automobile and logistics. The report emphasizes that vast prospects lie ahead for the Indian IT firm in the mid-market sector of the Germanic nations where over 95% of the businesses are engaged in the fields of machine building, automotive, chemical and electrical products.
The report suggested that the Indian IT companies possessing large pools of experienced talents and employees skilled in technology should take advantage of the prevailing conditions in the Germanic nations by look for collaborating with firms of comparable magnitude for front-end competencies. In fact, latest collaboration models on mutual product development may facilitate building a feasible SME segment in the market in both regions. The report observes that presently the Indian firms are earning below $2.6 billion by providing IT services, engineering services and BPO to the Germanic region, compared to the potential market of $53 billion. In fact, this region comprises the largest fraction of the Indian firms’ European market and has the potential to expand to $10 billion by 2020 provided they initiate tactical and strategic moves to flourish in this market from now.
NASSCOM president Som Mittal said that the Germanic nations have turned out to be in the vanguard of Europe economy and offers momentous prospects for the Indian IT industry. He said that these countries are presently confronted with a severe dearth of talent to serve the knowledge-based industries, including IT and engineering services. In such a situation, India, having a huge technically proficient talent pool and offering inexpensive, but quality services worldwide, is the preferred partner for the firms in the Germanic countries. Mittal was of the view that the present euro crash and fiscal uncertainties in Europe was only a passing phase and soon the region would emerge as the largest market for the Indian IT and ITeS industry.