Search the Internet          Tips  Sites: Finance, Investment

Malaysia, India eye alliance in IT ambitions

Indian technology leaders said on Tuesday they could combine their software design skills with Malaysia's manufacturing expertise to yield an unbeatable partnership.

Businessmen accompanying Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on a three-day visit called for more IT investments in Malaysia, saying it offered a good stepping stone to the fast-growing southeast Asian market.

"India and Malaysia can be digital neighbours," Ajai Chowdhry, chairman and chief executive officer of HCL Infosystems Ltd told a business conference in Kuala Lumpur.

"India's design skill coupled with Malaysia's manufacturing expertise promises an unbeatable pairing," he said.

India is one of the world's software leaders and home of major technology companies like Infosys Technologies, Wipro and NIIT, while Malaysia is a major manufacturer and exporters of semi-conductors.

Malaysian officials welcomed the idea of Indian know-how and money to help jumpstart its own IT ambitions.

Malaysia has set up Multimedia Super Corridor, modelled on Silicon Valley. It is also trying to rival India's technology hubs of Hyderabad and Bangalore.

"We are trying to get more Indian companies to go into some strategic partnership with Malaysian companies," said Othman Yeop Abdullah, head of Multimedia Development Corp which is developing the MSC.

Malaysia and India on Monday signed a memorandum of understanding on the information and communications sector as part of a raft of bilateral deals.

"This (pact) can be an effective framework for us to crystallise the potentials into business realities," Malaysia's Communications Minister Leo Moggie told the conference.

His Indian counterpart Pramod Mahajan, playing down the IT rivalry between Malaysia and India, said there would be no losers in the New Economy.

Malaysia's imports of Indian software are small but growing rapidly. India's software industry body said last month it aims to increase software sales to Malaysia to $125 million in 2005 from $26 million this year.

The National Association of Software and Service Companies said it hoped to achieve the growth under an agreement with Malaysia's MDC to increase information technology trade.

India had identified telecom software, e-commerce, multimedia, embedded software, application services, customer relations management and e-learning as the key technologies that would be sold to Malaysia.

In return, hardware, telecom products and infotech services provided by MSC firms would be key imports into India.

Tell us what you think of this report