• PAGE ONE
• INDEX
• HOME

`IT cos can gain access to Europe from France'

Our Bureau

BANGALORE, April 9

MORE and more vegetarian restaurants are coming up in France,'' said the Consul General of France and Trade Commissioner, Mr Yves Charpentier, enticingly, to Indian IT companies at a seminar on `France -- Gateway to Europe', on Monday.

The French Government, the Invest in France mission and the Nord-Pas de Calais, the investment promotion agency for Northern France, were present in full strength at the seminar to woo Indian IT companies to France.

Besides vegetarian restaurants, there was also a growing number of English schools in France, Mr Charpentier assured IT professionals.

Northern France, and the Lille district in particular, with infotech ambitions had a large number of students and engineers. The region was within two hours from Paris, one hour from London and half an hour from Brussels, said Mr Remy Chassaignon, Deputy Managing Director, NPCD.

``Lille will give you base to reach into the whole of Europe,'' he added.

The French economy had moved from traditional industry to services which currently employed four times more number of people, he said.

The services include mail order retailing, logistics, health and biotech and call centres. All these areas would need IT software and services, which is estimated to be a $3-trillion business in the EU by 2004.

In France, the software and services market was around $18.8 billion, said Mr Pierre Marlard, Managing Director, SEMA Group and the representative of Syntech (the French equivalent of Nasscom) in India.

France India Trade (FIT), the organisation that sponsored the seminar, has plans for more promotions to take the Indian IT industry to Europe.

The next one will be the Ennovation meet in May where all major e-commerce users will get together. A road show is being planned in UK in June and a buyer-seller meet for Indian companies in Europe in September this year.

The FIT CEO, Mr Tobby Simon, warned that if India did not grab the opportunity to enter the EU market now, there were rivals from Eastern Europe waiting in the wings.

``This invitation may not be there in the next 2-3 years as more competitors would come in and maybe more non-tariff barriers would be in place,'' he said.