The Indian presence at CeBIT 2001

By N. N. Sachitanand

HANNOVER: For a country that lays claim to being a software superpower - or at least aiming to become one - the participation by India in the world's biggest IT trade fair was pathetically miniscule. The biggies were conspicuous by their absence. This is strange, considering that CeBIT is the most important interface for contacting European and particularly German clientele and, with the U.S. slowdown, Indian software companies would be making strenuous efforts at increasing their presence in the European region.

Of the two dozen Indian exhibitors, 17 were clustered together in the India pavilion that has been organised by the National Association of Software and Services Companies in the last nine years. Barring two who also had products to market, the rest were software service providers. The pavilion was very small - just 204 sq. metres in area.

In fact, this year, because of the last minute entry by the Karnataka Government as an exhibitor (promoting the State as an investment destination and advertising the fair Bangalore IT.com), the Nasscom had to construct a first floor in the pavilion where it could locate its site office. This construction led to a rearrangement of aisle space in the already small pavilion with the result that the other exhibitors could be heard grumbling that their allotted space had been eaten into.

The Indian pavilion, unfortunately, is located at the very end of a hall which itself is at the periphery of the exhibition. This means that the flow of chance visitors to the pavilion is low. In fact, it was less than a couple of hundred a day.

Most of the exhibitors felt that Nasscom needs to more aggressively make known the presence of the Indian pavilion at the fair grounds through people distributing fliers or by advertising in the official CeBIT daily magazine and by interacting more with the local Press and TV.

As of now , many of the contacts made by the Indian exhibitors at CeBIT are follow-ups on initial mailers they have themselves sent to prospective clients.

While generally there was appreciation among the exhibitors in the India pavilion about the arrangements made by Nasscom, a common complaint was that there should have been a common Internet facility in the pavilion . Said one exhibitor, ``After all, Nasscom is charging us almost three times the rate for an empty stall . True , they are providing a furnished stall , but they could also have included a common Internet facility for the price .44

For each stand to have its own Internet connection is very expensive and, the CeBIT management, it appears, is unable to meet any last minute requests for such connections. The booking for an Internet connection has to be made several months in advance. ( Those who have exhibited in the American show, Comdex , say that getting an Internet connection for a stall there is the easiest thing and quickly provided on demand). Incidentally, some of the exhibitors at the India pavilion who had booked Internet connections had lot of problems in hooking up and grumbled that the response to their complaints by the service department of the fair was tardy.

Despite the above shortcomings, most of the participants in the Indian pavilion felt that it was worth it exhibiting at CeBIT, since new business contacts had been made. A majority said they would take part again next year. Most said they would remain in the India pavilion since that gave a brand image but some felt that they would take up stalls on their own in the halls devoted to their speciality.

This should be good news for Mr. Dewang Mehta, President of Nasscom, who has always been propagating the view that unless Indian software companies keep participating regularly in this fair , they would not be able to make their presence felt and benefit fully from taking part.

Mr. Mehta, who was here on March 27 for the India Day at CeBIT, had some good news to share. It appears, that Dr. J. Schomberg , Director of the CeBIT fair, has assured that next year the India pavilion's space will be more than doubled to 500 square metres and the pavilion will be given a better location in a different hall. It is hoped that this will enthuse bigger participation from the Indian IT industry .

And now, a parting shot. The so-called India Day party in the evening on March 27 at the India pavilion was a chaotic disaster. Every exhibitor roundly condemned the fact that they could not provide food and drinks to their specially invited guests because of the lack of control over the serving arrangements. Nasscom, you can do much better.

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