IP: Asia Times India helps fasten Singapore's IT belt

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

BANGALORE - India is "very responsive and supportive" of an initiative by 
Singapore to create an "Asian belt of IT cities", Singapore Acting Minister 
for Information Communication David Lim said.

David said that Singapore was working on the concept by focusing on 
information technology industry as an "engine of growth", and added that 
India is supportive of a broader concept of getting Asian countries 
together. He said that he has had discussions with Union Minister for 
Information Technology Pramod Mahajan who expressed India's support to the 
concept.

Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong first suggested the creation of an 
"Asian IT Belt" to integrate the Asian economies last December, following a 
visit by a Confederation Of Indian Industry (CII) led delegation. Goh 
mentioned that the new economy will be driven by regions and by cities, to 
a very large extent. He urged CII to work toward the creation of an IT belt 
to link up cities like Bangalore, Hyderabad or Chennai in India, to other 
Asian cities with IT strengths and capabilities, like Kuala Lumpur, Hong 
Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, Ho Chi Minh City, and others.

Goh was positive on the current economic changes being witnessed in India, 
and he offered Singapore as a catalyst to help and assist transform India 
into a more vibrant and growing economy.

David indicated that "many more projects" relating to IT infrastructure, 
involving India and Singapore, are on the anvil, but declined to elaborate, 
saying it is for the individual companies to make announcements.

Earlier, along with Karnataka Information Technology Minister B K 
Chandrashekhar, David inaugurated "EduBridge" Bangalore center, a division 
of Savant Infocomm India Pvt Ltd, set up in collaboration with Temasek 
Polytechnic, Singapore. The center offers structured specialized programs 
in niche areas of Infocomm, Internet, Networking and Wireless. Savant 
Infocomm Pte Ltd chairman Gopinath Pillai said that the center will provide 
the necessary platform to keep the software professionals and engineers 
abreast of the latest cutting edge technologies in the new economy.

Spending to rise
Spending on information technology services in India is projected to reach 
US$1.6 billion in 2001, a 25.2 percent increase over 2000 revenues of $1.3 
billion, according to industry analyst firm Gartner Dataquest. The industry 
is forecast to continue growing strongly through 2005, when IT services 
revenue will reach $5.8 billion, Gartner said in a statement released in 
New Delhi.

While the global economic slowdown and the uncertainty resulting from 
terrorism and war are expected to dampen growth somewhat through 2002 in 
many segments and countries, Gartner Dataquest said overall demand would 
continue to experience double-digit growth from 2003 through 2005. 
"Following 2002, increased confidence in the economy and business will 
present vendors with an opportunity to benefit from renewed demand among 
end users of IT services based on exploiting technology innovations," said 
Rolf Jester, Research Director for the Asia/Pacific IT Services market at 
Gartner.

India has mostly been viewed as a provider of IT services to the rest of 
the world. But the domestic market is showing very high growth rates as 
Indian expertise take increased advantage of the business benefits of using 
external services providers, Jacqueline Heng, senior analyst for Gartner 
Dataquest's IT Services group said.

Development and integration has been the largest segment within the IT 
services industry, and this would continue through 2005. In 2000, the 
development and integration segment reached $599 million, and in 2005 the 
market is expected to be $4.1 billion.

(Asia Times Online/Asia Pulse/PTI)


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