Pak techies seek Indian IT talent

For 36-year-old Pakistani Jehan Ara, its a homecoming with a difference. Though she never misses an opportunity to visit India—the coun...

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For 36-year-old Pakistani Jehan Ara, its a homecoming with a difference. Though she never misses an opportunity to visit India—the country her parents migrated from—from February 3rd her visit has a entirely different purpose. Ara, the newly-appointed president of Pakistan Software Houses Association (PASHA), will be heading the first ever 22-member delegation of the IT Industry in Pakistan on their maiden visit to the country.

Their main purpose: To look at areas of collaboration in information technology between the two countries. Part of the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) organised four-day annual seminar in the city, the Pakistani delegation will be looking at meeting some of the prominent leaders of the Indian information technology industry like Infosys honcho N.R. Narayana Murthy and Wipro Chairman Azim Premzi.

‘‘We will look at verticals like multimedia, IT-enabled services, call centres, IT education and e-learning as possible areas of collaboration, ’’ she said speaking to The Indian Express from Karachi. ‘‘This will be my first visit to Mumbai though,’’ exhulted Ara.

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It was during her visit to Delhi last month that the idea of bringing a Pakistani IT delegation evolved. ‘‘I met up with Kiran Karnik, the president of Nasscom, and we expressed our interest for the same,’’ she explained, the political thaw there after gave the plan a further push.

The other members in the delegation will include head of small and medium IT companies in Pakistan. For most it will be their first visit to India.

Like any other information technology delegation, the Pakistanis will also be visiting Bangalore. ‘‘This is an exploratory visit so that member companies can chat and discover possible areas of collaboration. We can share expertise in different areas and perhaps even form joint ventures. Research is another area for possible collaboration,’’ she said.

‘‘It is only when we talk to each other that we will discover what the possibilities are.’’ The Pakistan software industry is in its infancy with approximate revenue earnings of just $50 million. Most of the companies are small to medium size with a small percentage of big players whose total concentration is in the export of software and IT-enabled services.

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‘‘We want to expose them to the quality standards and the learning process that we in India go through and how we can collaborate with them on the same,’’ said Sangeeta Gupta, vice-president of Nasscom.