China seeks to learn from Indian software experience

MUMBAI: China, already an IT giant in the hardware sector, is seeking to

build expertise in software and can learn from India's experience, a senior

Chinese government official said on Wednesday.

"The Chinese government attaches great importance to the development of

the IT industry and is paying much attention to intensifying cooperation with

India on software development," Xiang Zhang, vice-minister of China's

Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation said. Zhang, who is heading a

delegation of IT government officials and corporate executives on a two-day

visit to India, made the comment in an address to Indian IT industry officials

in Mumbai.

China's computer industry sales are expected to top $46.1 billion this year

and software sales to exceed $3.6 billion. By comparison, India's software

exports, which comprise more than 75 per cent of the software industry's total

revenue, are expected to rise to $7.71 billion in the current year. "There

are many valuable experiences that the China should learn (from India),"

Zhang said.

Officials said China was particularly keen on emulating India's focus on

training manpower, besides inviting Indian software companies to invest in

China. Indian computer education firms NIIT Ltd and Aptech Ltd already offer

training courses in China.

And on Wednesday, an official of Patni Computer Services, a privately held

Indian software services firm, said that company planned to set up a software

development center in China, aiming to use local manpower to service clients in

East Asia and Pacific region.

For Indian software companies wary of emerging competition from low-cost

Chinese technical manpower, it was heartening to hear that China's software

companies are focused on catering to the domestic market. "China is

focusing more on the domestic market because software applications usage is

growing very fast locally," Gong Xiaofeng, director of research at the

state-run China Center of Information Industry Development, told Reuters on the

sidelines of the gathering.

China has set up 50 software technology parks that house both local and

multinational software companies, officials said. "Chinese software

companies are usually very small, weak and scattered. So they have to be put

together in a certain place where they can communicate and exchange views, learn

trends," Richard Lai, vice-president of the Shanghai Pudong Software Park

Co told Reuters.

(C) Reuters Limited.