The Hindu Business Line : Chile woos IT companies

Positioning itself as an ideal near-shore destination to the US, the Republic of Chile is making a high-decibel marketing pitch for Indian IT investments.

Led by the Industry and Trade Minister, Mr Alejandro Ferreiro, a high-level delegation from Chile is currently in India seeking investments from IT companies. Mr Ferreiro visited facilities of i-flex Solutions and Mascon Global in Bangalore on Tuesday.

While i-flex and Mascon are seen firming up their plans for Chile, Mr Ferriro is expected to call on other companies such as HCL Technolgoies, Infosys among others.

"Chile is a potential hub for i-flex to cater to the Latin American market. i-flex is exploring options of a near-shore destination in Chile to service the US market," said Mr Rajesh Hukku, Chairman and Managing Director, i-flex. The company has been operating in Chile for the past several years and boasts a clientele of four of the 12 major banks.

Further, Mr Hukku also said his company would look at inorganic growth in Latin America, including Chile. "There are a lot of smaller companies in Latin America which are working on extremely good products and are good candidates for buys. We are certainly looking at them," Mr Hukku said, without elaborating.

An estimated 25 per cent of the banking assets in Chile flow through the Flexcube engine, said Mr A. Srinivasan, Vice-President, Global Sales Operations, i-flex. The company derives close to 30 per cent of its Latin American revenues from Chile and has some 30 people in that country at present. Latin America contributes to around four per cent of i-flex's revenues.

Mr Ferrerio said Chile falls in the same time zone of that of US, the largest IT market. Further, Chile has been the most stable and the fastest growing economies in the region, Mr Ferrerio said adding that his government was committed to remove any obstacles that come in way and help Indian companies set up their operations in the region.

Mr Sandy Chandra, Chairman of Mascon Global, said his company was exploring the possibilities of setting up a centre in Chile in the near future. "Chile will be one of the strategic locations for MGL to serve Americas and we are committed to build a strong customer base in Chile and Latin America in the areas of Consulting, IT & Telecom Services along with healthcare, e-governance, e-education, and e-commerce."

Companies such as TCS and Evalueserve have already been operating in the region, he said.

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