NASSCOM 2002: Reflected Market Mood

Thanda!" was the oft-used adjective by most people to

describe the atmosphere at Nasscom 2002, which was held between 6-9 February,

2002 in Mumbai. Nasscom 2002, which was officially called ICT India 2002, was

brought together by industry organizations CII, MAIT and NASSCOM for the first

time. The event comprised an international exhibition at the World Trade Center

and a series of seminars at Hotel Oberoi.

Touted as an "All-in-one IT event to showcase India’s

capabilities in key areas of information technology and

telecommunications", the event lacked lustre. The reason? The R-word:

Recession. Many felt that with recession on, there were not many exhibitors

willing to shell out bucks for floor space.

Even the stalls were less ostentatious this time around. In

fact, the companies who had booked larger floor spaces last year decided to

stick to the standard stall size priced at approximately Rs 90,000.

Kiran Karnik, President, Nasscom had earlier stated,

"Currently what we are witnessing in the context of the IT exhibitions

scenario is the dwindling of enthusiasm among Indian IT companies. As the

industry is experiencing a global slowdown, companies have had to resort to cost

cutting measures and rationalize all marketing activities. Given the general

slowdown in the industry, companies are evaluating the cost and benefits accrued

by participating in exhibitions and then making informed decisions."

There were very few business visitors as compared to last year.

Says Bhavin Turakhia, CEO, Direct Information, "We found there were more

students than people who were genuinely interested in buying our products."

Shantanu Sarkar, Regional Manager, Embee Software also echoed this feeling. He

reasoned that with more and more information available on the Net, there are

very few IT managers or MNCs who were willing to trudge down to the exhibition

to see newer technologies.

Nasscom 2001 had generated business of $640 million. While

official business figures for this year’s event are not available yet, it is

likely to be half last year’s number.

Nasscom 2001 vs 2002



If last year the event saw the participation of over 143 companies, only 73

participated in the exhibition this time. Last year there were a lot of

construction companies that had pitched in with their stalls in the exhibition,

hoping to attract IT players interested in constructing IT parks or call

centers.

This time around, there were only two representatives from this

segment, K Rajeha Constructions and Hiranandani Constructions. CIDCO was also

present to market its International Infotech Park and International Technology

Center at Navi Mumbai and also to promote the city as a "new IT

destination".

Dewang Mehta’s presence was sorely missed by all. Says one

exhibitor, "People usually associate Nasscom with Dewang. Now that he is no

longer there, we find that there is not enough publicity generated for the

event." Adds Bhavin Turakhia, "When Dewang was around, he managed to

garner more publicity for the event. This time, though the organizers tried

their best, we felt that the usual hype was missing." There is no denying

that Dewang’s charisma would have made a difference to the event.

K Gopalkrishnan of Emerson Network Power Ltd points out that

comparitively not many big names had participated in the event this year. Those

that had, took small stalls, which did not get much attention.

Significant happening



One thing which aroused significant interest among visitors was SafeScrypt

presenting country’s first digital signature certificate to Pramod Mahajan,

Minister of Communications and IT. The second certificate was handed to Bimal

Jalan, Governor of the Reserve Bank of India. An impressed Mahajan stated,

"With the digital certificates, we have been ushered to an era of secure

Internet-based transactions and e-commerce in the country."

Nasscom 2002 had a humane face to it as well. At the entrance of

one of the pavilions was a stall for CRY, an NGO foundation working with

underprivileged children. On display were articles that had been crafted by

deprived children. Visitors were seen patronizing the hall enthusiastically.

Seminars and conferences



The theme of the Nasscom seminar was ‘Indian Software Inc.–Sustaining

Growth’, and was organized for the benefit of nearly 1,000 delegates from

India and abroad. The sessions had been designed to help the industry identify

and tap new market opportunities both domestically and internationally. Sessions

were held on topics such as product development, bio-informatics, disaster

recovery, capacity planning and mergers and acquisitions.

The conference also examined how global technology trends impact

the Indian industry as well as define the opportunities for Indian companies by

geography, vertical segments and technology platforms. There was also a CIO

forum, technology summit and special country perspective forum to identify new

emerging markets such as Latin America, Europe and the Asia Pacific.

Almost 65 speakers addressed 15 sessions during the four-day

event. Delegations from 12 countries including the USA, UK, Canada, Taiwan,

Spain, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia and Italy were present at the conference.

Any buyers for Nasscom 2003?



Given the tepid response to this year’s Nasscom, are exhibitors willing to

invest in the event next year? Says Dilip Turakhia, "We did not get good

response from our stall this year, largely because the market per se is in the

dumps. Maybe if business picks up next year, we will participate in the event

next year."

Embee

Software had heard rave reports about the business transacted at earlier Nasscom

events and decided to participate this year. But judging from the poor response

they have received, they are not willing to take a plunge next year.

Yogesh Kapoor of Cyquator Technologies too seemed unhappy with

the response that his stall generated.

K Gopalkrishnan found the response at the event unsatisfactory

and says that less than 50 people walked into his stall in the span of three

days. He says that Emerson would rather wait and see how the year shapes up

before taking a decision whether to participate in the next year’s event.

VINITA SUVARNA-BHATIA in Mumbai