Commenting on opportunities in the healthcare arena, Mr R Chandrasekaran, President and MD, Cognizant, said, “Healthcare is a recession-proof industry. If you see the history of recessions, the healthcare industry has either remained flat or even growth during an economic slump.”

He pointed out that the US government absorbs 70 per cent of healthcare costs for citizens. “That is not sustainable. The process would be privatised.” This meant more opportunities for IT vendors. “The US is now going to spend about $20 billion on maintaining electronic records. The UK is pumping $30 billion into its healthcare system. Canada is building a healthcare infoway at $30 billion.”

“Opportunities in BPO would also rise. Fourteen per cent of the $4.8 trillion healthcare expenditure (globally) is due to administration costs. That is a $60-70 billion industry.”Addressing the gathering, Mr Mittal said the IT spends of the non-Fortune 500 companies are far greater than that of the Fortune 500 companies. “That is the market we have to go after,” he said.

According to him, “Fortune 500 companies may have been low-hanging fruit. But there is an opportunity among smaller companies.”

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) across the world want IT services and only SME IT vendors in their respective countries serviced them. “These providers face a shortage of skills and capabilities. Here, we are with an abundance of such skills but we still do not service this market.”

He said Nasscom had signed MoUs with IT industry apex organisations in England, France and Germany to ensure that SME companies in those countries could find like-sized vendors here in India quickly. He added that getting these smaller vendors to meet such clients is to be a focus area for Nasscom this year.

impact of protectionism

Asked to comment on the impact of protectionism in the West, which would affect opportunities for Indian companies exporting to those countries, he said that Nasscom was speaking to the relevant people and elucidating India’s position. “There are far more job losses in the construction and manufacturing industry in the US than in technology.”

According to him, there are 9,000 employees with Indian firms in Latin America and 90 per cent of them are locals. In Indian software companies in Europe, 90 per cent of employees are locals, and in Indian companies in China, locals comprise 95 per cent. “However, in the US, the share of Indians in local jobs is higher since there is lesser local talent available than there is demand.”

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