Kerala start-ups look at Germany for business partnerships

Germany is increasingly becoming the destination of choice for Kerala-based IT start-ups and small and medium companies.

Berlin is the country’s capital for start-ups as well, according to official statistics. At least 44,000 start-ups and spin-offs on the city generate a creative climate for doing business. Start-ups here are now able to find German partners to do business, according to Group of Technology Companies (GTech), Kerala.

Orisys India, based in Technopark, is the latest on the list. The larger European Union and the UAE are also promising markets, says Arun Raj, Chief Executive.

Orisys has domain expertise in communication management solutions, corporate e-learning platform, media solutions, web development and e-commerce.

The company has a track record of implementing a number of projects, both in the government and private sector in the State.

“We were on the IT delegation to Europe this year and attended the CeBIT fair in Hannover. We managed to find partners in Germany and have won a few projects,” Raj told Business Line .

“The German market is really open. They have started to outsource in a big way. There was a language barrier but now the situation has changed,” Raj added.

The UAE market is also opening fast ahead of the massive 2020 Expo event. “We expect to win a few projects there in information and communication technologies.”

Orisys plans to recruit a minimum of 300 employees to support its international operations, Raj added.

Industrial growth and investment climate in EU has turned positive —a factor which is complementing IT too, says Binu Jacob, Convenor, Business development Focus Group of GTech.

Tina James, Director, 3E IT Solutions, Technopark, says that the uptick in the German economy has also seen a rise in the number of SMEs.

“Most of them are embracing outsourcing for increased profitability. We now see a more open approach from counterparts in the EU.”

James said that 3E could close three contracts during the visit of the GTech-led delegation to Germany and Benelux in March. Shihabuddin, CEO of Nuevalgo Solutions, Infopark, Thrissur, is of the view that the West Asian market is more of product-oriented where one can pitch in with core products, and later move on to services.

Expo 2020 in Dubai, the FIFA World cup in Qatar, and several other big events scheduled for the next few years are opening up opportunities for IT businesses there.

Overall ICT spending this year in sectors such as healthcare, banking and finance, transportation and the energy is predicted to top $96 billion there.