IndiaSoft 2022 to showcase ICT capabilities

IndiaSoft 2022, the flagship IT event of the Electronics and Computer Software Export Promotion Council (ESC), will be held in New Delhi on March 23-25, 2022, and will bring together over 500 foreign ICT buyers from 60 countries.

Keeping in view the digital thrust given by the government and the importance assigned to increasing the services exports from the country, close to 200 Indian IT firms will also display their products and solutions to discerning buyers.

The 2022 edition of the event will also feature three parallel shows - the IT global exhibition and conferences, India IoT World, and India Electronics Expo - which are poplar among international buyers and Indian exhibitors. An added feature of this year’s IndiaSoft 2022 is that another ICT show - Convergence India Expo - India’s largest Tech and Infra show, is also being organised to expand the bandwidth and utility of the shows.

A Study by McKinsey estimated that the Indian IT Industry is expected to touch the $350 billion revenue mark over the next five years, growing almost 10 per cent per annum. Thus, the $194 billion Indian tech industry will be growing at a much faster clip than the 7.5 per cent growth rate registered over the last five years. The industry will be required to make concerted efforts to achieve expected growth. This will include additional efforts to build and scale up digital technologies to meet emerging needs. Businesses across verticals are moving towards digital transformation. Against this backdrop, IndiaSoft 2022 will create business synergies for growth.

Mentioning that India has a head start in software development and information technology enabled services (ITeS), Kamal Vachani, regional director, ESC Middle East, said that around 90 per cent of India’s software and ITeS exports is with the US and Europe, wherein the US accounts for the lion’s share at 60 per cent. “We at ESC are assiduously pursuing a policy to empower the Indian IT exporters to go in the value chain by exporting high-ended software and complex solutions to the global markets. We are targeting Middle East market to exports information technology enabled services (ITeS) in a big way.”

Explaining the special features of the show this year, Sandeep Narula, chairman of ESC, said that a lot of importance is given to showcase the “innovation trail” of Indian companies across the country in the cutting edge digital technologies like artificial intelligence, automation, machine to machine language (IOTs) and other internet products. “We feel these sectors are the future of the Indian ICT manufacturing and exports at a time great transformation is undergoing in the global ICT markets. Indian companies will have to absorb these trends in a more intense manner,” he said.

The show, which was held earlier in several parts of India including Chennai and Bengaluru, will also focus on traditional areas of ICT exports like ERP, legal outsourcing, e-governance , BPO, KPO, Cloud computing, Big Data Management, Mobile Application Services, Information security, and Animation & Gaming.

Gurmeet Singh, executive director of ESC, said that the show gives a lot of importance to startups. For the last few years, a number of startups run by young minds from IITs, NITs and other engineering colleges are participating successfully in the IndiaSoft events, availing free facilities extended to them. “Keeping in tune with the focus laid by the government for promoting startups in the digital domain, we encourage a lot of small and mid-size companies and startups to participate at the show to familiarize themselves with the requirements of the foreign buyers,” said Singh, adding that many of the exhibitors could attract lucrative deals from overseas buyers and investors by participating in the show.

Supported by the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry, since its inception, this year’s IndiaSoft show will have several new facets keeping in view the focus laid by the government to usher in a digital revolution in the country. “The three-day show will display India’s capabilities in automation, internet products like IOTs, robotics etc, among other things, which also will convey that India is in the cusp of the next level of IT revolution,” said Singh.

With a population of 1.3 billion complemented by geographical diversity, India is now at the center stage for attracting newer investments in the e-commerce and also newer investments in these in these sectors as is happening now. It opens up several opportunities for the Indian IT companies for creating technology platforms, content writing and back office operations for giant e-commerce companies like Amazon, Walmart, Tencents, etc for their Indian and global operations. One of the challenges that these Internet based platforms are facing is the last mile connectivity to reach out to people to make them stakeholders. Many Indian startups are specializing in developing disruptive software and creating databases to help such companies’ access Indian hinterlands to tap the market. Such technology platforms will also be in display at the show.