Chinese software not a threat
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The rise of China's software and services industry does not pose a threat to India, as India focuses on exporting to developed markets, while China focuses on serving its domestic market, said a top Indian software executive at the weekend.
"The Indian software and services industry largely serves the foreign market mainly in the US and Europe, and Chinese companies have smaller exports and mainly serve the domestic market," Girjia Pande, chairman of Indian IT company Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) Asia Pacific, told the Global Times Saturday at the Boao Forum for Asia, held in Hainan Province.
With the fast growth of China's software and services industry, which was worth 1.33 trillion yuan ($203.62 billion) in 2010 and is expected to reach 3 trillion yuan ($459.30 billion) by 2015, there are increasing suspicions that China is challenging India in the sector.
TCS was the first Indian software company to set up operations in China (in 2002), and the company now has five delivery centers in Beijing, Shanghai and several coastal cities, serving multinationals such as Motorola Corp and domestic financial institutions such as Bank of China.
Since then, other Indian software companies such as Wipro Technologies and Infosys Technologies have also come to China seeking business opportunities. "We compete with them in every market including China," said Pande. "The trend is that more Chinese companies will start exporting, and more Indian companies will come to China."
He said TCS's business is still small in China compared with domestic software companies. "Our business growth rate in China is okay, but I want it to grow faster," he said. "We want to approach more large Chinese enterprises and financial institutions that need next generation solutions as they go global or face competition from global counterparts."
The services industry will be the next growth engine for China, said S Ramadorai, vice chairman of TCS.
Chinese Minister of Commerce Chen Deming said at the Boao Forum that the authorities are considering opening some service sectors, but hope that developed economies will treat China the same way by opening related sectors to Chinese companies.
"It's good news for us," said Pande. "With our global customers such as banks, transportation and logistics companies coming to China, as well as Chinese companies starting outsourcing in a bigger way, our business will get a boost.
