Kerala CM to open ‘India IT Summit' on Jan 19

The Chief Minister, Mr Oommen Chandy, will inaugurate the third edition of the two-day India IT Summit here on Thursday, January 19.

The Minister for Industry and IT, Mr P. K. Kunhalikutty, will deliver the key-note address at the inaugural session.

The Minister for Labour and Rehabilitation, Mr Shibu Baby John, will deliver the key note address during the valedictory session.

EVENT THEME

The theme of the event is ‘Business strategies for non-linear growth,' a topic that is being widely discussed at the highest levels in corporate India, according to Mr V. K. Mathews, Chairman, India IT Summit and Executive Chairman, IBS Software Services.

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Kerala, is the main organiser, and the Government of Kerala, the co-organiser of the event, Mr Mathews told newspersons here on Tuesday. KPMG, the Knowledge Partner for the event, will bring out a white paper on the theme of the event and the general outlook for the Indian IT industry.

WHITE PAPER

The Chief Minister will release the white paper during the inaugural session. The official Web site for the event is www.indiaitsummit.com.

The objective of the CII IT Panel is to facilitate the accelerated growth of the IT/ ITES industry in Kerala, Mr Mathews said.

One way to achieve this is to hold high-profile IT events across the State where thought leaders would articulate relevant issues to various stakeholders.

India IT Summit 2012 will be the ideal platform for increased visibility of the State as an IT destination through national exposure.

The annual India IT Summit is one of CII's premium conferences on information technology and the foremost IT event held in the State.

The 2012 edition will feature 20 eminent personalities from India and abroad, discussing selected subjects of national relevance in four separate sessions.

COST ARBITRAGE

Over 300 delegates, among them CEOs, industry experts, politicians, academicians and Government officials, are expected to attend.

The past two decades witnessed a phenomenal growth for the Indian IT industry with ‘cost arbitrage' as the major value proposition.

The model worked thus far, Mr Mathews said. But is it sustainable, given the rapidly escalating employee costs in India, threat of competition from several other low-cost locations and inefficiencies associated with unwieldy growth in head count?

The two-day conference will see industry experts discuss this issue and the strategies required to address them, across four sessions.

VARIED SESSIONS

These are IT industry challenges for sustaining growth (session 1); Partnering for global economic revival (session 2); Preparedness to address the challenges (session 3) and Innovation as the way forward (session 4).

Key speakers invited include Mr K. M. Chandrasekhar, Vice-Chairman, and Mr G. Vijaya Raghavan, Member, Planning Board, Government of Kerala; Mr Ajay Kumar, Joint Secretary-IT, Government of India; Mr Alkesh K. Sharma, Managing Director, Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation; Mr Kris Gopalakrishnan, Executive Co-Chairman, Infosys; Mr Ganesh Lakshminarayanan, President, Dell India; Mr Avinash Vashistha, Chairman and Country Managing Director, Accenture India.

Also invited are Mr V. Ramaswamy, Vice President, TCS; Mr Sudhir Nair, Senior Vice President, Mahindra Satyam; Mr Pradeep Udhas, Executive Director, KPMG; Prof Rajeev S., Director, Asian School of Business, and Adjunct Faculty, IIM-Bangalore; Mr Pritish Nandy, Chairman, Pritish Nandy Communications; Ms Roopa Kudwa, Managing Director and CEO, Crisil; and Mr Ashish Dhawan, Senior Managing Director, Chrys Capital.

Top diplomats from Germany, the UK, the Netherlands and Japan have been invited to participate in the session ‘Partnering for global economic revival' to give their perspective of how the Indian IT industry can add value to customers in their respective countries against the backdrop of the global economic uncertainty.

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