The India Week organized by the India High Commission in Singapore has led to
the strengthening of the relationship between India and Singapore. India Week
was to coincide with the visit of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to
Singapore, but due to the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center, India
was represented by Pramod Mahajan, minister for parliamentary affairs, IT and
communications and Murasoli Maran, minister for commerce and industry.
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Mahajan had signed an MoU on IT with the Singapore government earlier. This
time, there was a CEO meet followed by the inauguration of the India Center,
ISTEX expo and an ICT conference. The Infocomm Development Authority of
Singapore has opened offices in Chennai and Bangalore. The CEO meet dealt with
ways to leverage each other’s strengths with the aim of targetting the China
market. An India centre has been set up at Phase Z.Ro Technopreneur Park at the
Science Hub at Buona Vista. This has been accomplished by the Federation of
Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), the IndUS Entrepreneurs (TiE)
Singapore Chapter, JTC Corporation, and Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB).
The center was inaugurated by Singapore’s minister for trade and industry, BG
George Yeo, and Murasoli Maran.
The center will help Indian software companies to showcase their
competencies. Singapore will also act as an ideal launch pad for Indian
companies planning to globalize their businesses as the country is home to
around 6,000 multinationals of which 3,000 have their regional headquarters
here. Singapore has a lot of financial institutions and VCs as well. Fast
Forward Technologies, Rapid Effet, Moksha Technologies, Zensar Technologies (S),
Integra Infotech, and Suntec Business Solutions have leased space at the India
centre. TiE Singapore will also be housing its secretariat function here.
The India Singapore Technology Expo (ISTEX) was inaugurated
by Pramod Mahajan. In his inaugural address, Mahajan said, "India is a
nation of technology and its strength lies in the one million people who produce
technology whereas Singapore’s strength lies in usage of technology. The
India-Singapore relationship will be a firm step in bridging the gap between
product development and usage of twchnology".
The exhibition had participating companies like Network i2i,
Ramco Systems, TCS, Planetasia, Pentamedia, Pacific Internet, NIIT, MindTree
Consulting, Mascot Systems, Mahindra Industrial Park, KarTox Technologies, iback
office.com, eFunds International, and Cambridge Technology Partners.
A conference was organized by CII and PriceWaterhouse Coopers
highlighting ICT opportunities in India. India was representated by Pramod
Mahajan; Sanjiv Goenka, president, CII; Tarun Das, director general, CII; B
Ramalinga Raju, chairman, Satyam Computer Services; Sunil Bharti Mittal, CMD,
Bharti Enterprises and RS Pawar, chairman, NIIT. Kaizad Herjee, assistant CEO,
Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore; Yoong-Sim Hong Siang, CEO, Network
i2i; and Simon Lim, Head Infocomms & media, Economic Development Board.
Pravin Prashant/VOICE&DATA
in Singapore