BangaloreIT.biz 2008 kick starts

Bengaluru: The 11th edition of BangaloreIT.biz organized by Dept of IT, BT and Science and Technology, Government of Karnataka, STPI — Bengaluru and MM Activ was inaugurated by CM of Karnataka BS Yeddyurappa and the exhibition was inaugurated by CM of Gujarat Narendra Modi. Gujarat is the partner state for BangaloreIT.biz 2008. Mexico is the partner country, which is represented by 50-delegate team.

The three-day event being held at Palace Grounds will consist of seminars, panel discussions, exhibitions and a host of other events.

Ashok Kumar Manoli, Principal Secretary to the Government of Karnataka, Department of IT, BT and S&T, in his welcome address said that the event was renamed to IT.biz to give a business aspect to it.

“Bengaluru is the IT, technology and R&D hub of the nation. The state government is now promoting the growth of tier-2 and 3 cities,” Sudhakar Rao, Chief Secretary, Government of Karnataka said.

Hailing BangaloreIT.biz as a platform for global thinkers to come together and plan for the challenges ahead he affirmed BangaloreIT.biz as 'qualitatively one of the most well-organized and prestigious events'.

Expressing confidence and faith in the federal governments of the world in handling the current global economic crisis Rao said, “The governments must ensure that the meltdown shouldn't become long term. The Indian industry must now consolidate its position in the global IT arena.”

While releasing Karnataka's IT showcase DVD, Ananth Kumar, Member of the Parliament said, “By 2010, Karnataka will employ over 10 lakh IT professionals. Over the past three years, on an average two new IT companies are set up every week. Karnataka's average growth rate is 36 percent, six percent more than the average national growth rate.”

Ricardo Alvarez, Executive Director of International Promotion, Mexico released the Karnataka IT information brochure and hailed India and Mexico as “Countries of the future.”

 “The IT policy is under revision with inputs from the Vision Panel. The growth rate of the IT industry in Karnataka has grown from 17 percent last year to 28 percent this year. The semiconductor policy was under review and the focus would be on manufacturing Solar PV Cells required for the generation of solar energy. The Government also proposes to set-up an Electronic Hardware Technology Park near Bangalore International Airport at Devanahalli. The present government after assuming power has cleared 32 IT projects involving an investment of over Rs 3600 crore. These projects are expected to generate about one lakh jobs,” said Katta Subramanya Naidu, Minister for IT & BT, Information, Excise and BWSSB, Government of Karnataka.

While inaugurating the event BS Yeddyurappa said, “The state government has committed Rs 1,800 crore for the development of infrastructure of Bengaluru, which has been a major hindrance for the easy movement for the IT human resources. Similarly state will also focus on upgrading infrastructure facilities at other cities of the state. Upgrading the facilities of existing airports in Mysore, Hubli, and Belgaum and creating airports in other cities such as Shimoga and Gulbarga are on in pipeline."

Marinara Modi, CM, Gujarat while inaugurating BangaloreIT.biz's exhibition said, “India can give to the world a kind of IT Nano. When Indians can contribute 30 percent to the development of Microsoft Windows, give Hotmail to the world, why can't we create a Yahoo or a Google. India has the capacity to deliver such end-to-end products and services to the entire mankind. Indian IT and BPO industry has matured enough to start thinking of end-to-end products instead of continuing the outsourced work."

Another area to focus according to Modi is domestic growth. He said, “We need to focus on producing products for the domestic market and to diversify our exports to many destinations in the world instead of focusing on just few countries.” 

He also dwelled upon the attrition and revenues compared to cost per employee in India. He said, “India's IT HR earnings compared to cost are very poor even today. At the same time we are also facing pressure on cost from other service provider markets such as China and the Philippines. Taking all these ground realities into consideration, IT industry captains must mull upon re-engineering their business models.”