Internet Plus policy offers role for India's expertise

With their global knowledge and innovation experience, India's information technology companies could play an important role in the implementation of the Internet Plus policy being promoted by the Chinese government.

The Internet Plus policy initiative aims at integrating mobile Internet, cloud computing and big data with modern manufacturing, to encourage the development of several fast-growing industries, including e-commerce and Internet banking.

The State's promotion of IT infrastructure is expected to provide new market opportunities for both foreign and domestic technology companies.

The new policy framework for IT development could also generate further cooperation between local and foreign companies.

According to Pavel Naiya, an analyst at Counterpoint Technology, a market research firm, "The announcement of the Internet Plus policy suggests that China has aspirations to become a far more significant player in the IT space, which will not be possible without partnerships with global international established players."

In this regard, Indian companies have already established a long track record of providing data and software services to large technology markets like the United States and Europe. The country is a leader in IT service solutions and prides itself in having an abundant supply of technologically skilled workers.

Indian IT companies are now looking for further opportunities in the Chinese market, where economic growth, although slowing, is stable, and demand for improved IT solutions remains high.

Rangarajan Vellamore Rathangapani, chief executive of the China operations of India-based Infosys Technologies, said: "The Internet Plus policy is a huge opportunity for us. We have invested heavily in building a big data platform. And we have developed several technologies that provide industrial use for this data."

Infosys has focused its China strategy on securing large Chinese customers by helping them with their expansion efforts and by developing the right IT capabilities needed to grow domestically.

"Chinese companies are also becoming globally competitive, and Indian IT enterprises can offer them a lot of value with their global experience and talent pool," Rathangapani said.

China has been a crucial market for the IT service solutions group since it opened its first software center in Shanghai in 2004.

emmagonzalez@chinadaily.com.cn