India is expecting a bigger pie of Japan's offshoring and outsourcing business, even as the two countries recently signed a comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA), according to Mr Som Mittal, President, National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom).
Nasscom's internal target is that in the next five-six years revenue from Japan should increase to nearly 5 per cent from the present 2 per cent, he told newspersons on the sidelines of the seventh edition of Nasscom's Emergeout Conclave here..
Mr Mittal is leading an Indian delegation coming Monday on a three-day tour to Japan to meet decision makers there. Japan has a negative population growth and is short of engineers and others of that ilk. They have begun in a small way by outsourcing and offshoring to China.
“We have a unique opportunity in Japan, and Japanese companies that are present overseas, including India. We can help them bring in best practices. Given that the CEPA allows free flow of people between the two countries, it opens up a two-way business opportunity, he said.
Opportunities for small cos
Nearly 80 per cent of the information-technology business for India comes from the US and the UK. Last year, revenue from the US grew by nearly 24 per cent as against the overall industry's growth of 19 per cent. There are opportunities, especially for small and medium companies, in emerging markets, including Japan, where competition is less. “We are looking at increasing business from non-US and UK markets,” he said.
A Nasscom delegation is visiting Switzerland and Germany now with participation from 15 small and medium companies. A similar delegation earlier went to Africa, he said.
Japan's business is mostly in the areas of engineering and IT. Perhaps the main issues are language and culture there. But this is the time to break through in that country with India signing the CEPA with Japan, he said.