Dutch IT Companies doing well in Kerala

IT Companies from the Netherlands are doing well in Technopark, Trivandrum. This was one of the revelations that came during an interactive session today in Trivandrum with Ms. Marijke van Drunen Littel, Consul General of the Netherlands, Mumbai. ARS and RickshawSoft are two of the companies that shared their experiences in Kerala and particularly, Technopark.

ARS Software is a subsidiary of ARS Traffic & Transport Technology BV, The Netherlands and has been in Technopark since 2001. ARS provides Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS), services and solutions to major traffic and transport related clients in Europe. RickshawSoft Smart Solutions, a subsidiary of RiksjaSoft BV, The Netherlands is a fairly new entrant having set up their shop about nine months back and provides Retail software, solutions and services to clients including big retail organisations in Europe.

Sharing his experiences Martijn van der Spek, MD, ARS said that doing business and working in India for the last nine years has been really good and Kerala is like a second home for him. They are very impressed with the facilities in Technopark as with the talent available here.

Wim Krämer, CEO, RickshawSoft said the availability of cheap and highly skilled manpower in Kerala is the biggest attraction for European companies to come here or to do business with IT companies here. According to him, a company can get four employees here for the cost of one in Europe. (Btw, it looks like the name of his company is truly inspired by India!)

Hugo Messer, CEO of Bridge Outsourcing BV who started Bridge India, a web development and web designing company in Kochi shared his experiences in Kerala with Kerala IT News, “For our company, the loyalty, high skills and hard working attitude of people from Kerala, bring a lot of advantages. Before starting in India, one of the sounds that we often heard was of high attrition rates in India. Since we started in 2008, not a single employee has left our company deliberately." He would certainly recommend more companies from the Netherlands to set shop here. “Kerala is a very good choice at the moment as salaries are still much lower than in the Tier 1 cities, people are very friendly and living in Kerala is a pleasure”, he added.

Earlier Ms. Marijke spoke about the immense potential that the Netherlands offer for Indian Companies. She also spoke about the various projects by the Dutch in India and specifically in Kerala.

The session was organised by the InKEL forum of Excellence in association with the NIPM Trivandrum Chapter. T Balakrishnan IAS, Principal Secretary, Department of Industries & Commerce, Govt. of Kerala; John Mathai, Chairman, Public Sector Restructuring and Internal Audit Board (RIAB); Dr. G C Gopala Pillai, MD, Infrastructures Kerala Ltd. (InKEL); Binu Sankar, CEO, GTech were among the many CEOs and top officials from companies who attended the session.

Denmark to welcome IT cos from Kerala

Denmark is all set to roll out the red carpet for IT companies from Kerala planning to set shop there. A session on ‘Market Opportunities in Denmark’ was organised by the Group of Technology Companies (GTech) and Technopark in partnership with the Invest in Denmark organisation under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark at Technopark last week.

Shanker Subramaniam, Senior Investment Manager, Danish Trade Commission spoke on the market opportunities for IT companies from Kerala in Denmark. Taking the session, Shanker said, “Denmark is an ideal location for SME from Kerala to set up their European base (Nordic hub) as Denmark is centrally located among the European countries. The shortage of skilled labour and the less investment required to set up an office in Denmark are the points which should attract Indian companies”.

Companies can start small and smaller companies can build relationships better. Clients in Denmark are demanding but don’t change vendors once selected. He also gave a brief presentation on Visas, Work and Residence permits in Denmark. Acoustics, IT services and Logistics are the industries that offer maximum opportunities in Denmark. Over the last few years 105 Danish companies have established themselves in India.