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Our Bureau

Chennai , March 21

IF the US has offered an opportunity to Indian IT companies in the last decade and more to get work that was typically in-house back to Indian shores, then smaller markets beckon now.

Today, at the IndiaSoft 2005 meet, representatives from South Africa, Russia and Egypt indicated to an audience of mid-sized Indian IT and ITES vendors that opportunities are aplenty in these countries.

Answering a specific question, Mr Iqbal Khan, Partner with Ernst & Young, South Africa, said: "IT outsourcing is in excess of $100 million. Of this, 70 per cent is serviced within the country. The remaining largely goes to the African region."

Mr Hans Kuepper, Transaction Advisory Services with Ernst & Young in Russia, said: "It is certainly cheaper to develop software in-house in Russia. Also, Russians are typically secretive and wouldn't want to share information with service providers from outside."

In his address earlier, Mr Kuepper said, "The market is not developed enough yet. Internal growth with Russia is big enough. So not too much outsourcing happens. So, it's an opportunity for Indian IT companies."

In his address, Mr Elyes Kasri, the Tunisian ambassador to India, said that on average, anyone educated in Tunisia is fluent in at least three languages - Arabic, French and English. "India could take advantage of these skills and address the African, Arabic, Mediterranean and European markets through Tunisia."

Interestingly, more engineers emerge from the education system in India, which is said to be facing competition from countries such as Brazil.

India sees 80,000 engineers pass out of its college portals.

Mr Luiz Carlos Marques, who is with Ernst & Young, Brazil said that about 2,000 engineers, ready for employment in the IT industry, graduate every year in that country.

India scores when it comes to salaries payable too. The Nasscom Web site indicates that a senior software engineer (who typically has three years' experience) would have cost a company, in 2003, about Rs 4,24,000 (at Rs 44 to a US dollar, i.e., close to $10,000 per year.)

The cost to company (CTC) for someone with three years of experience in South Africa would be up to about $26,000 a year, while CTC for an engineer in Tunisia would be about $12,000.

The CTC for an engineer with similar experience in Moscow would be about $24,000 while even a fresher in Brazil could cost a company close to $20,000. These figures were in response to a specific question at the India Soft gathering.

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