INDIASOFT 2009, to be held in Kolkata

Kolkata, December 23, 2008: The ninth edition of the largest IT global networking event in India, INDIASOFT 2009, to be held in Kolkata, is targeting the new emerging markets of South Africa, Spain, France and Germany for software exports and services.

Last fiscal, the country exported software worth $45 billion and the target this fiscal is around $58 billion. Out of this, $3.6 billion has been earmarked for electronics hardware and $55 billion for software and services.

“The software market in South Africa is estimated to be around $12 billion and we want to tap this potential market. At present, we export 0.7% of it only and want to increase it,” said DK Sareen, executive director of Electronics & Computer Software Export Promotion Council (ESC).
INDIASOFT 2009 will have around 120 buyers from these focus regions and also from Latin America, he said. The event will be held in Kolkata on February 26 and 27, 2009.

Around 80 domestic exhibitors will participate in the event. When asked about the last fiscal figures of the IT industry, Sareen said the industry did a business of $25 billion from April to September, involving $2 billion in the electronics hardware and $23.65 billion in software services segment.

“We have already achieved 45% of the total target of $58 billion in the first six months and let us see how we fare in the coming months,” Sareen said. The first six months recorded a growth rate of 30%.

West Bengal IT minister Debesh Das, who was present in the curtain raiser of the event, made it clear that INDIASOFT 2009 is a big opportunity for the city’s small and medium scale enterprises in the IT sector. “IT SMEs in the city are surpassing the SMEs of Hyderabad, Pune and Chennai in quality,” Das told reporters.