Indian IT sector can help Canada improve productivity and efficiency:
Som Mittal, President NASSCOM
Making a strong plea for a more relaxed immigration regime in Canada, Som Mittal the President of India’s National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) said that the regulations governing movement of highly skilled people either on a temporary or a permanent basis in Canada needs to be more relaxed, but have instead been made more stringent.
“Canada needs to improve its efficiency and its productivity, and technology is the best means to achieve that improvement, so the free movement of people is an important bilateral issue,” Mittal emphasized.
The NASSCOM President was participating in a roundtable discussion organized by Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce (ICCC) on last week (Thursday, October 18, 2012) in downtown Toronto to discuss the Emerging scenario in the Canada-India cooperation in the IT sector.
Setting the agenda for the roundtable discussion, Naval Bajaj, President, ICCC, explained that the purpose of the roundtable was to develop a better understanding of the IT sector and identify the areas within the sector where policy changes would lead to enhanced cooperation between Canada and India.
He said the Chamber is interested in understanding what industry experts from both Canada and India feel about the following issues:
- Measures that need to be undertaken at the government and the firm level to enhance IT trade and investments directly between Canada and India
- Mobility of IT professionals from India to Canada in the skilled workers class category to supplement the IT human resource requirements in the North American market
- Enhancing global competitiveness by removing barriers to business and trade
- Also, Canada’s expected boom in the oil and gas sector is going to change the complexion of the Canadian – and the North American – energy scenario. Does NASSCOM have a strategy to immerse the Indian software industry into the oil and gas sector, similar to its immersion in the finance and banking sector worldwide
Several senior professionals of Canadian, Indian and global IT companies, entrepreneurs, legal luminaries and corporate entities participated in the roundtable. Madam Preeti Saran, the Consul General of India in Toronto, was the guest of honour at the event.
Seeking more collaboration between Canadian and Indian IT sectors, Mittal noted that, “We have our trades balanced but we do hope that CEPA would create more opportunities for both our countries. Out of the $ 70 billion India IT exports, Canada represents $1.5 billion which given the size and the potential of both countries is small. Therefore, there are large opportunities for us,” Mittal said.
Some of the Canadian companies active in Indian market are CGI, Research in Motion, Wesley Clover, Sigma Systems, TLI Software, AirG, Axcend Global, Mediagrif Interactive Technologies, Future Electronics, Replicon Inc, Vantrix Inc, XStream Software Inc, Toon Boon, and Entrust.
