Bangladesh-India’s IT initiatives

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) is willing to set up a ‘skill development institute’ in Bangladesh partnering with the government to, what its Chairman of Eastern Region has said, “match industry requirements”.

CII-logo

“This would be useful for industrial training for engineering, construction and other fast-growing sectors,” S Radhakrishnan said in Dhaka on Saturday at a seminar, jointly hosted by business leaders of India and Bangladesh, on how the two IT sectors can work together.

Founded over 118 years ago, CII is India's premier business association with more than 7,100 members.

It signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Board of Investment Bangladesh (BOI) and India Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IBCCI) in June this year to facilitate bilateral investment and business partnerships.

“We are here not to compete with you, but join and grow together,” Radhakrishnan, who led the Indian side in the seminar, said.

He said the geostrategic location offers much potential for partnership as “we are close to the vibrant and rapidly growing economies of East and South East Asia”.

“We can be a power,” he said stressing on joint initiatives in skill as well as IT infrastructure development.

This is the first time that IT stakeholders of both countries put their coordinated efforts to come closer on a platform where they can share their experiences of successes and challenges.

The Indian delegation comprises senior representatives from IT industry to, what CII says, explore the Tk 18 billion Bangladesh IT market that is growing at a rate of over 40 percent, with bilateral collaboration and partnership.

Indian High Commissioner Pankaj Saran at the opening session said IT was an ‘emerging sector’ in Bangladesh and hoped that the outcome of the seminar would give ‘concrete ideas’ as to how ICT can lead to economic development and income generation in Bangladesh.

He said India’s announcement of zero duty access of Bangladeshi products two years back facilitated its IT products ‘to have an easy access’ to Indian market.

ICT minister Mostafa Faruque Mohammed said the joint seminar would be ‘another milestone’ in the two countries IT sectors.

“By this event the door of success and opportunities has opened broadly for creating business relation, improvement of information technology and its future roadmap”.

Bangladesh government has declared IT as a ‘thrust sector’ and different projects are underway to realise its Vision 2021 of the ‘Digital Bangladesh’.

Currently, software and IT service export is one of the top 15 export items of Bangladesh with an export of more than $100 million in the last fiscal year.

Indian IT industry contributes 7.5 percent of its GDP.

President of Bangladesh Computer Society Mustafa Jabbar said India became a ‘super-power’ in the IT sector. “We have just begun”.

The collaboration would help Bangladesh to learn from India’s mistakes during its growth, he said at a brief press briefing in the seminar.

The CII Chairman Radhakrishnan said when the whole world witnessed negative growth during the economic meltdown, “Indian IT industry managed to register a growth of 5.5 percent”.

He said Bangladesh government “needs to facilitate IT adoption through policies, programmes and incentives and should also facilitate development of quality IT workforce”.

“The government also needs to partner with the private sector to leverage cutting edge IT and foster innovation”.

He said Indian industry was ‘keen’ to invest in Bangladesh “to leverage its advantage of competitive workforce, natural resources and stable environment”.

For more business earning, he suggested that both India and Bangladesh must concentrate on products development in the IT sector.

“As of now we are depending on services that have reached an optimal level,” he said.

At the brief press briefing Deputy High Commissioner Sandeep Chakravorty said they would carry out joint activities even after the seminar.

“(Bangladesh’s) ICT minister said he would lead a delegation to India. We have plans to hold workshop focusing specific areas,” he said as he stressed on sustained relationship between the two neighbours’ IT industries.

BASIS, association of software firms, Bangladesh Computer Society and India-Bangladesh Chamber jointly organised the seminar with the help of CII.

Statistics show the two-way trade between India and Bangladesh crossed $ 4 billion mark with a potential to touch $ 6 billion in the next two years.

Source: bdnews24