As Europe and US shrink, Nasscom smells African biz

It’s tough to contain the $100-billion Indian IT industry and a slowdown in the traditional outsourcing grounds of US and Europe does not slow down the technology juggernaut.

Now, Africa beckons and nodal IT body Nasscom will soon be sending a delegation there in September.

This would be Nasscom’s third visit to Africa from September 16-24 this year as it plans to make the most of an untapped market.

The 17-member delegation will visit Nigeria, Uganda and Kenya to create awareness among local companies about India, identifying companies for potential partnerships and building long-term engagement programs.

Indian IT majors currently operating in Africa comprise Infosys, TCS, HCL, Mahindra Satyam and Pune-based Zensar Technologies.

“Africa is one of the fastest growing economies and with inflation falling from 22 per cent in the 1980s to 8 per cent in the last decade it holds tremendous opportunities,” Nasscom Vice-President Ameet Nivsarkar told Deccan Herald.

Nasscom visit will underline the body's initiative to explore investment opportunities in the form of joint ventures and partnerships with local companies; promoting India’s IT , among others.

“The telecom space along with the banking and financial sectors in Africa remain most lucrative,” Nivsarkar added. In June this year, Infosys had won a deal with Africa-based Standard Bank to deploy core banking through its product Finacle

.Nasscom estimates Africa’s IT market to touch $26.53 billion in 2012. Nivsarkar added that the visit comes at a time when the US and European markets have not been showing much prospects of renewed business.

Recently, both Infosys Executive C0-Chairman Kris Gopalakrishnan and Tata Consultancy Services CEO N Chandrasekaran agreed that BFSI has been a challenging sector.