Schroeder sees opportunities in IT, commn. sectors

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE, OCT. 30. While admitting that the German economic growth rate had declined to 0.75 per cent from the projected 2 per cent, the German Chancellor, Mr. Gerhard Schroeder, on Tuesday preferred to downplay the fallout of the September 11 terrorist attacks in the U.S. on the domestic economy.

On a brief visit to the Siemens Information Systems Ltd. (SISL) facility here, Mr. Schroeder said the 0.75 per cent still accounted for growth and not recession. Besides, the projected growth of 1 to 1.5 per cent for 2002 did not give cause for any fear of recession.

Mr. Schroeder said there was a noticeable recovery in the information technology and communication sectors. ``We see a greater opportunity here,'' he said, adding it should help the ``survival of the fittest''.

To a query on the East European pool of IT professionals, he said that area could not be ignored as France and the United Kingdom were also looking there. Mr. Schroeder opted to put the Indian talent in information technology in the right perspective by stating that ``out of the 10,000 visas issued under the `Green Card' scheme, 2,000 were for Indians''.

Expressing happiness about the Indian participation, he said it reflected India's state-of-the-art advances in IT and related areas. However, he did not want it to be a one-way process. ``It should be a true win-win situation to be mutually beneficial.'' Bringing German technological expertise to India was part of the process, he said.

On German education, he said the universities there had become much more international in their approach, and the course syllabi were of high standards. The total absence of tuition fees, he said, should make education in Germany an attractive prospect for foreign students.

Mr. J. Schubert, Managing Director, Siemens Ltd. and spokesperson for Siemens operations in India, said technology was the greatest contribution of Siemens to India. ``Our relationship with India began some 140 years ago with the laying of the world's first transcontinental telegraph line between London and Calcutta,'' he recalled.

He said Siemens in India had IT capabilities that catered to a variety of segments, technologies and processes. ``In all, we have about 2,000 professionals all over the country. Leveraging our knowledge and expertise, Siemens has set up R&D centres that act as global `workbenches' and centres of competence for specialised areas.''

SISL's expertise in digital imaging was demonstrated through the Picture Archival and Communication System (PACS), a major breakthrough in telemedicine, which enables medical diagnosis. This solution enables the images and records of the patient to be captured, stored, retrieved and distributed directly online.

Also highlighted during the visit was the Speaker Identification System, which characterises an individual's speech based on certain unique features typical of his/her voice. This system can be used in certain applications that require identification of a speaker on the basis of voice samples, such as detection of criminals, verification of customer identity at banks, libraries, during security checks at restricted locations and access control for network and e-commerce applications.

`India on top'

Our Special Correspondent adds:

India had already made it to the top of the world in the fields of communication, information technology and software development, Mr. Schroeder said on a visit to the establishment of the private sector IT giant, Wipro Corporation, here on Tuesday.

Mr. Schroeder exclaimed in his speech, ``It is great to be here. We in Germany had heard a lot about the wonderful achievements you have made in the fields of communication, IT and software development.'' Germany had a great deal of respect for these achievements, and Germans could learn a lot from India. India had high skills in those fields which could be put to use in Germany. About Wipro, he said, ``I hope to see a lot more of Wipro in Germany, and your sophisticated skills can be applied in our country too.''

Mr. Schroeder further said only in a peaceful world could economies progress, and that was the signal to be sent to the world at large.

Speaking to presspersons after the Chancellor's visit, the Chairman of Wipro Corporation, Mr. Azim Premji, said the visit would give a boost to the entire software industry in the country and not just his company.

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