RIYADH, 14 April 2005 — A senior official of the Riyadh Chamber of Commerce & Industry (RCCI) has said that Indian companies are a strong candidate to be involved in the IT park that is proposed to be set up in the north of Riyadh near the third industrial estate in the King Khaled International Airport complex.
“The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has confirmed that they will help as a catalyst to provide two or three companies to work as viable partners in the project. A feasibility study has already been completed by an Australian firm as part of a joint project involving the Arriyadh Development Authority (ADA) and the RCCI. We are now moving toward Phase II regarding the allocation of site for the project,” RCCI Secretary-General Hussein Al-Athel told newsmen.
He was speaking at the end of a presentation by Indian IT firms at the chamber. S.K. Poddar, senior vice president of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI), and Krishan Kalra, additional secretary general of FICCI, reeled off some impressive statistics at the joint meeting of Saudi and Indian businessmen.
The figures show India’s stature as a country that has achieved a remarkable growth rate of eight percent per annum, reined in inflation to under six percent, and exported software products worth $15 billion last year, up from $12 billion the year before. Its foreign exchange reserves have remained at a comfortable level at $142 billion.
The presentation also highlighted that country as endowed with three million-strong scientific and technical manpower, 50,000 computer professionals, 360,000 engineering graduates and the second after the US in terms of the English-speaking scientific manpower.
Kalra said as a result of its strong IT infrastructure, over a 100 multinational companies have set up R&D facilities in India. He also cited the findings of a survey conducted by FICCI which showed that 77 percent of the companies that made foreign direct investment raked off handsome profits, while 86 percent of the overseas companies want to expand.
Yet, despite the impressive statistics, the turnout of Saudi businessmen was nowhere near the figure of 100 businessmen promised by the organizers on Tuesday. FICCI sees it as India’s image problem. As Poddar and many others have observed on several occasions, Saudis tend to identify India with the workers cleaning cars or doing other odd jobs.
However, Abdul Rahman Mazi, president & CEO of International Network Engineering, put the onus on Indian companies for the less-than-expected turnout. According to him, the Indian IT firms, despite some exception, are more keen on outsourcing business than establishing their presence in the Kingdom.
The representative of another Saudi company said India, despite the wealth of its expertise and other resources, is not being marketed properly. “The Indian Embassy should have a marketing officer to promote India in this region and remove all the misconceptions about the country.”
He continued: “When a delegation of computer hardware companies comes from Taiwan, the Taipei Cultural and Economic Representative Office in Riyadh launches a vigorous advertising campaign in the Kingdom’s English and Arabic media three or four days in advance. Their businessmen return with multimillion-riyal contracts under their belt. No such promotional blitz was done in India’s case,” he added.
