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.

Bahrain beckons IT Cos from Kerala

Bahrain, one of the fast growing economies significant to global firms in the Gulf market is beckoning IT companies from Kerala to set up shop there as a huge market opportunity exits for these companies. This was the highlight of a session on Investment and Market Opportunities in Bahrain organised in Technopark last week by the Group of Technology Companies in Kerala (GTech) in partnership with the Economic Development Board (EDB), Bahrain and Technopark.

The key speaker for the event was Ms. Dharmi Magdani, Country Manager - India, EDB Bahrain. EDB aims to enhance Bahrain’s economy by developing an economic growth strategy, enhancing the business environment through reforms, and promoting investment.

Bahrain offers easy and liberal visa policies along with the most liberal tax regime in the Gulf with no corporate income tax, no personal income tax and no wealth tax or tax on capital gains among other reliefs. Companies are allowed 100% foreign ownership with no ‘free zone’ restrictions. The country has an advanced legal environment based on British Common Law System. Bahrain offers a cost efficient business base and also the most educated, skilled workforce in the Gulf.

According to Binu Sankar, CEO, GTech, “There is immense opportunity for Kerala Companies in the areas of e-governance, Tourism and IT Training. Two to three companies might set up a representative office in Bahrain soon.”

According to Gartner, the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Market in Bahrain is expected to reach $ 375 million by this year which is driven by products and services from the Government and the Private sector.

Around 23 companies participated in this session chaired by S Rama Rao, former President, GTech. Mervin Alexander, CEO, Technopark and Anoop P Ambika, Secretary, GTech were among those present.

Do not reduce width of highways: GTECH

Thiruvananthapuram: The Group of Technology Companies (GTECH), a strategic grouping of software companies in the State, has proposed that Kerala use Central funds to compensate and rehabilitate the families that would be displaced for widening the National Highways to 45 metres.

A pressnote issued by GTECH here on Thursday said that reducing the width of the NHs would not be in the long-term interest of the State or its citizens. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has approved the expansion of about 700 kms of highways, at an estimated investment of Rs.10,000 crore, over a 30-month period. However, politicians in Kerala, cutting across party lines, insist that the width of the highway should not exceed 30 m (as against the NHAI standard of 60 m), citing the impact of land acquisition on the affected people. This has put the entire project at risk and the State could lose the approved funding and a project vital to its needs.

Arguments

“Whilst rehabilitation is the most important aspect that the State government should focus on, there are also a lot of factually incorrect arguments on the impact of the expansions. The total number of people that will be affected by the land acquisition will be less than 50,000, according to the study conducted by NHAI, whereas those against the highway expansion claim that it is 25 lakh. The good thing is that there are plenty of funds already available from the Central government for acquiring land at even 2.5 times the market price,” said V.K. Mathews, president, GTECH.

Paradox

It was unfortunate and, in a way, paradoxical that when the whole country was asking for more funds for building more transportation infrastructure, in Kerala, the only topic on which both the government and the Opposition coming united was to block the infrastructure development, he said.

“What is required is a mass awareness programme to bring out the advantages of 45-m NHs to the citizenry of the State,” Anoop Ambika, secretary, GTECH said.

Need for vision

The Trivandrum Residents Apex Council (TRAC) has also opposed the all party move to reduce the proposed width of the NH road corridors and do away with the BOT route.

A pressnote quoting TRAC president Ramakrishnan Nair and secretary K.T. Roy said road development should be finalised with a long-term vision covering 20 to 30 years. “Considering the increase in vehicle density, 30 m width would be inadequate. A median of 5-m width will be needed to accommodate concrete pillars for a flyover needed for future development.”

GTech: From Technopark to Technology Companies

Tvm: GTech, the Group of Technopark Companies is undergoing a transformation from its present form to the Group of Technology Companies. This was announced by V K Mathews, President, GTech today. GTech will thus be a strategic grouping of IT & ITeS Companies from the Government IT Parks in Kerala.

The Group of Technopark Companies was founded in 2000 by the CEO’s of the companies in Technopark as a non-profit organisation. Today majority of the companies in Technopark are members of GTech. But in the last ten years the Kerala IT industry has grown beyond Technopark and in the last Annual General Meeting of GTech held in February 2010, it was decided to broaden the network and look beyond Technopark.

Briefing the media, VK said that GTech is equivalent to Nasscom in Kerala. GTech wants to be seen as an organisation complimenting and partnering with the Government and its agencies to promote not just Technopark but the entire Kerala as a preferred IT destination to companies around the world. At the same time they also want to limit their activities to companies which are based in Government owned IT Parks, namely Infopark, Cyberpark and the several new smaller IT parks at Kundara, Chertalla or Ambalapuzha. They are also expecting the companies from Technolodges to join them, as and when they start.

The main focus area of GTech remains to promote the cause of the community of IT companies in Kerala. It’s the forum where matters of common interest could be discussed and resolved while articulating the consensual views of its members to the Government, regulatory agencies, media, the general public and foreign community.

One of the new initiatives planned is be to promote the small and medium companies in the IT parks. The bigger companies can mentor these SMEs. GTech also want to provide a platform for these companies to showcase themselves so as to get VC funding or to do overseas promotion.

Another initiative is the tie-up with several professional bodies outside India which can benefit the members. The Internship programme for Management Students from Singapore is a step in this direction.

GTech is also planning to increase their activities under Corporate Social Responsibility. The conference on 'Re-Engineering the Kerala Agriculture Sector: Information and Communication Technologies in Agriculture' in January 2010 is an example of this initiative. They brought bring 55 farmers from different parts of Kerala to attend this one day conference in Technopark.

GTech now has a new team steering the activities for the next two years with V K Mathews, Chairman & CEO, IBS Group as the new President and K Nanadakumar, President & CEO, SunTec Business Solutions as the Vice President. Anoop P Ambika, CEO, Kreara solutions and Syed Ibrahim, MD, Palnar Transmedia is the Secretary and Treasurer respectively. They will have a new road map to make GTech as a catalyst in promoting and positioning Brand Kerala. They want to leverage on the global connections and the vast expertise of Mathews and Nandakumar, especially to benefit the Small and Medium companies and help them set new benchmarks.

Anil Philip

Loss of NH project will adversely affect Kerala public

Group of Technology Companies (GTECH), a strategic grouping of software companies in Kerala, is of the firm view that reducing the width of the National Highways in Kerala would not be in the long-term interest of the state or its citizens. NHAI has approved the expansion of about 700 kms of highways, at an estimated investment of Rs.10,000 cr, over a 30 months period. However, Kerala politicians cutting across party lines insist that the width of the highway should not exceed 30 meters (as against the NHAI standard of 60 meters), citing the impact of land acquisition on the affected people. This has put the entire project at risk and the state could lose the approved funding and a project vital to its needs.
Currently, the increase in vehicular traffic in Kerala stands at 12% pa and a 30-meter highway will have to operate at several times its capacity on the day it is commissioned!! In other words, the situation after completing a 30-meter highway for which some land acquisition is required will be no different from what it is now. Vehicular accidents will continue to remain high, there will be no let up in traffic congestion, fuel wastage will increase, transportation costs will continue to rise, carbon emission will shoot up and the developmental activities in the state will slow down. Contrary to the general perception, the common man will also be adversely affected by poor and inadequate connectivity.
“Whilst rehabilitation is the most important aspect that the State Government should focus on, there are also a lot of factually incorrect arguments on the impact of the expansions. The total number of people that will be affected by the land acquisition will be less than 50,000, according to the study conducted by NHAI, whereas the figure used by those against the highway expansion is 25 lacs!!! The good thing is that there are plenty of funds already available from Central Government for acquiring land at even 2.5 times the market price. We must realize that the Kerala Government, considering our financial situation and other priorities, cannot afford to acquire expensive land at all, and therefore we should use this Central funding to facilitate total and effective rehabilitation.” says Mr. V K Mathews President, GTECH
Kerala has the highest vehicle density of 1:6 in the country (one vehicle for every 6 people, which is over 4 times the national average) and the highest annual traffic growth. The state has an average of 11 deaths and 120 grievous injuries every day, due to road accidents. Pedestrian accidents account for a majority of this. The number of families, especially those belonging to the weaker sections of the society, devastated by road accidents every year is alarmingly high.
The common man is also adversely affected in several other ways. Traffic bottlenecks increase transportation costs and for a consumer state like Kerala, this will mean higher costs for essential commodities. A smooth flowing traffic is absolutely essential for crisis evacuations in case of natural disasters like tsunami or even in case of terrorist attacks. Besides, emergency transportation of people to hospitals demands decongested roads. The productivity loss and increased fuel costs on the Trivandrum-Kochi stretch of NH-47 itself, due to congestion and lower average speed, is estimated to be about Rs. 2,700 cr p a.
An overwhelming percentage of the youth in Kerala aspires to be engaged or employed in the value adding service sector like Information Technology. For this industry to grow and for new investments to come in, the state needs to have safe and efficient transportation infrastructure, especially roads and highways. It is extremely unfortunate and, in a way, paradoxical that when the whole country is asking for more funds for building more transportation infrastructure, in Kerala, the only topic on which both the Government and Opposition coming united is to block the infrastructure development.
“It is essential that adjacent services, pedestrian roads and medians of adequate dimensions are put in place. All these would require a minimum width of 45 metres. A study revealed that the total number of families affected by road accidents each year in Kerala is three times that of the number of families affected by land acquisition for the current National Highway development project. What is required is a mass awareness programme to bring out the advantages of 45 meter National Highway to the citizenry of the state” sums up Anoop Ambika, secretary GTECH.

Reverse Innovation – An article from HBR by VG of GE

Imagine you're German, you need a new family car, and you have a limited budget — say, US$9,400. What can you do? Continue using public transportation? Buy a used car? Or maybe buy a brand-new Dacia Logan!
Dacia is a Romanian car manufacturer acquired in 1999 byFrench automaker Renault with the aim of designing low-cost passenger vehicles for emerging Eastern European markets. The Logan, a five-seater with a spacious trunk, was introduced in Romania in 2004 and subsequently to neighboring countries. The Logan's basic version, costing US$6,500, was revolutionary in the automotive industry well before the Tata Nano appeared on the scene. Dacia now offers pickups, vans, station wagons, and mini SUVs in emerging as well as developed markets. In Germany alone, where the car is offered starting at US$9,400, Dacia's sales jumped from about 6,000 units in 2006 to about 85,000 units in 2009 — this in a land studded with its own car brands.
To offer the car at such low prices, Renault followed a stringent design-to-cost approach. The Logan consists of fewer parts than the average Western car and is made of traditional steel in a labor-intensive assembly process in a low-cost country. To meet the needs of emerging market customers, the car has a fuel filter, increased ground clearance, and a battery that can survive extreme weather conditions. Maintenance is simple; a basic technician can do the work. Interestingly, the Logan originally was conceived at Renault's French R&D headquarters. Product development responsibility gradually shifted to the company's new R&D center in Romania.
When Dacia launched the Logan in Germany, they followed five principles that may be useful to other companies planning to bring emerging market products into developed markets.
Focus on building platforms, not products. Platforms can be scaled up or down for global markets. For the German market, Dacia scaled up the product platform with more safety features and more appealing exterior characteristics, such as metallic paint. This allowed the automaker to charge higher prices and, in turn, reap higher profit margins.
Select target customers. The company carefully chose its target customers. Typically, these customers are people who buy a Logan instead of a used car, a cheap, Asian import, or a very small European car. These customers value price, space, and reliability. Renault highlights Logan's best space-price ratio in its respective car segment. The car's exceptional reliability is highlighted via guarantees, regular checks, and customer satisfaction surveys.
Emerging market platforms must be low cost but not low quality. Dacia's marketing emphasized the fact that it's able to offer low prices without sacrificing quality and safety.
Commercial innovations are essential. The Logan is not just a product innovation, but a commercial innovation as well. Dacia employs low-cost marketing (they don't advertise on TV) and they initially sold the Logan through existing Renault dealerships.
Protect global brand. Renault introduced Dacai as a separate brand, to avoid potential negative effects on its core brand.
We may be at the cusp of a new era where breakthrough innovations happen first in poor countries and those innovations subsequently are taken to rich countries. Logan is a powerful example of suchreverse innovation.

Technopark firms lift ban on poaching

Special Correspondent
Thiruvananthapuram: The Group of Technology Companies (GTECH), a common platform for IT companies in Kerala, has decided to lift the self- imposed restriction on poaching each other's resources.
Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, president-elect of GTECH V.K. Mathews said the decision was influenced by the need to ensure better ‘ mobility' for technology professionals to further their career prospects within the State and prevent their migration to other IT destinations like Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad.
Formerly the Group of Technopark Companies, GTECH's new avatar reflects its broader representation of IT companies across the State.
“The employment scenario and industry profile have undergone major changes over the last 10 years. Initially, a professional employed in a GTECH company could seek posting with another only if he produced a no-objection certificate from the first employer. That was a time when the number of employees in Technopark could be counted in thousands. But today, their number runs into tens of thousands, especially after GTECH expanded its profile,” Mr. Mathews said.
Anoop P. Ambika, secretary, said moves were on to establish a mechanism to deal with gender issues in the profession.
“It is envisaged as a platform for women employees to air their grievances and seek redressal,” he said.

GTECH outlines roadmap for IT growth

Special Correspondent
Thiruvananthapuram: The Group of Technology Companies (GTECH), a body representing the software industry in the State, has announced a slew of initiatives aimed at the accelerated growth of the IT sector. Outlining a roadmap for the revamped GTECH, president-elect V.K. Mathews said the fraternity would work closely with the government to promote Kerala as an IT destination.
The industry is eminently suitable for a State like Kerala where the availability of land is at a premium and the density of population the highest. The IT industry has one of the lowest land-to-employee ratio. It is neither polluting nor power intensive and offers huge employment opportunities, he said.
Four objectives
GTECH will pursue four main objectives during the course of 2010, which are ensuring physical security of IT parks in view of recent threats; containing costs; expanding reach and consequence by collaborating with external institutions; and enhancing collaboration among members to improve competencies of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). It will collaborate with the government on tactical actions and strategic campaigns to promote Kerala as an IT destination. It will take part in consultations on policy matters and offer support in the State's e-governance projects, besides cooperating with the Labour Department for reforms in labour laws.
Mr. Mathews said GTECH would promote and support existing IT companies, promote IT entrepreneurship and small companies and engage ‘key influencers' to mobilise public support for the IT industry. “The software sector is characterised by intense global competition, demanding global standards in quality and delivery schedules at all times, an employee-driven job market, high voluntary attrition, flexible resourcing needs and periods of recruitment spree. For the industry to grow, ‘key influencers' should understand its special nature and requirements. GTECH will work towards creating and increasing this awareness,” a press release here on Tuesday said.
Mr. Mathews said GTECH would try to propagate the key message that ‘Supporting IT is supporting people.' K. Nandakumar, vice-president, GTECH; and Binu Sankar, chief executive officer, were present.

Private ban on poaching from among Kerala IT cos goes

Thiruvananthapuram, May 4
The Group of Technology Companies (GTECH), the common platform for IT companies in Kerala, has decided to annul the extant ‘gentleman's agreement' that prevented member companies from ‘poaching' each others' resources.
Announcing this, Mr V.K. Mathews, President-elect, GTECH, told newspersons here that the decision was taken with a view to affording needed ‘mobility' for technology professionals to further their career prospects within the State.
LARGER OBJECTIVE
This is a baby step towards accomplishing the larger objective of retaining precious resources, which would otherwise exit the borders seeking better prospects in the IT backyards of Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad.
As a matter of policy, GTECH members would, however, desist from ‘actively soliciting' resources from each other, Mr Mathews said.
Explaining, he said there has been a sea-change in the employment scenario and industry profile over the last 10 years.
Initially, a professional employed in a GTECH (then Group of Technopark Companies) company could seek posting with another only if he produced a no-objection certificate from the first employer.
“But this was a time when we could count the number of total employees on rolls in Technopark into the thousands. But today we count them in their tens of thousands, especially after the scope of GTECH has been expanded to include technology companies from all over the State,” Mr Mathews said.
EMPLOYEE FORUM
Speaking on the occasion, Mr Anoop P. Ambika, Secretary, GTECH, said a separate employee forum is being envisaged to take up labour-related issues among member-companies.
Another significant initiative would be a mechanism to deal with gender issues, which would provide a platform for women employees to air their grievances and seek redressal.
Outlining a roadmap for the revamped GTECH, Mr Mathews said that the fraternity would work for the accelerated growth of IT industry in Kerala. Mr K. Nandakumar, Vice-President, GTECH, was also present on the occasion.
The industry is eminently suitable for a State like Kerala where the availability of land is at a premium and the density of population the highest. The IT industry has one of the lowest land-to-employee ratio. It is neither polluting nor power intensive and offers huge employment opportunities. GTECH today has a membership of nearly 100 companies employing around 80 per cent of the software professionals working in the State. All large IT companies operating in Kerala are members, or are in the process of becoming one.
Nearly 70 per cent of the members are from the SME sector employing less than 50 persons each.
AGENDA SET
GTECH has decided to pursue four main objectives during the course of 2010, which include: (i) ensuring physical security of the IT parks in view of the recent threats (ii) containing costs (iii) expanding reach and consequence by collaborating with external institutions and (iv) enhancing collaboration amongst members to improve competencies of SMEs (small and medium enterprises).
It would also work very closely with the State Government to promote Kerala as an IT destination through tactical actions and strategic campaigns, consult on policy matters, support/participate in the State's e-governance projects and closely work with the labour department for timely reforms in labour laws.
The key message that GTECH would attempt to propagate is that ‘supporting IT is supporting people,' which would help mainstream the industry and its employees in the socio-economic fabric of the society.