The Hindu Business Line : Nasscom meet to focus on growth strategies

“Besides discussing new growth opportunities, the event would focus on short-term and long-term strategies that the companies could adopt to sustain their growth.”

Our Bureau

Bangalore, Feb. 10 The 17th edition of the annual Nasscom India Leadership Forum takes off in Mumbai on Wednesday.

The number of registered delegates has fallen 20 per cent this year to about 1,200, compared to about 1,500 last year. Interestingly, the number of companies, from which these delegates come, has increased this year.

While those numbers were not immediately available, Ms Sangeeta Gupta, Vice-President, Nasscom, said that the number of companies represented this year is greater than the 600 companies that last year’s delegates came from.

She explained this saying, “Earlier, large companies used to send about 25-30 people. With the environment being what it is today, representation is muted. But the number of companies from which these delegates come spans small, big, domestic and West-based companies.”

No difference

Mr Ganesh Natarajan, Chairman of Nasscom, said, “The response has been very good. I do not see any difference this year. People are looking for real solutions and real growth opportunities.”

“There are a lot of new participants this time. Given the trying times, we are still doing extremely well. There are a lot of new opportunities, and new companies that are interested,” Mr Natarajan said.

The new participants are mostly MNCs and smaller companies, he added.

The three-day event aims to address the key challenges faced by the Indian vendors from long-term and short-term perspectives, given the prevailing gloomy economic conditions in key markets such as the US and Europe.

Event focus

Growth for the Indian IT services companies has come under check as customers, impacted by the economic crisis, hold back or delay their decision on investments in new technology applications. Driven by the current market conditions, Nasscom recently pared the growth forecast for software exports to 16-17 per cent at $47 billion for 2008-09, lower than the targeted $50 billion.

“Besides discussing new growth opportunities, the event would focus on short-term and long-term strategies that the companies could adopt to sustain their growth,” said Mr Natarajan.

Nasscom would also discuss the long-term strategy being formulated in collaboration with consultancy firm McKinsey at the event. “We would be speaking a lot about that. We would discuss the current crisis and how companies can continue to multiply revenue and become more inclusive,” Mr Natarajan said.

Prominent Speakers

Key speakers at the event include the Chairman and Chief Executive of Cisco, Mr John Chambers; management guru Mr C.K. Prahlad; the Infosys Chairman and Chief Mentor, Mr N.R. Narayana Murthy; and global strategist Mr Pankaj Ghemawat among 40 others.

“The interest from speakers has been very inspiring. In fact, we have not been able to provide accommodation to all the potential speakers,” Mr Natarajan said.

NILF has also evoked a lot of interest from the Government, venture capitalists and educational institutions.

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