PH eyes second-tier Indian IT-BPM firms for co-location

After luring India’s top 15 IT-BMP companies, the Philippines is now targeting its second-tier firms to explore the advantages of co-locating in the country and eventually putting up operations.

This was the aim of the 10-member Philippines business delegation that recently joined the NASSCOM India Leadership Forum (NILF) at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Mumbai.

The Philippine delegation, organized by the IT Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP), was composed of top executives from IBPAP and IBPAP-member companies including Sutherland, Hinduja Global Solutions (HGS), John Clements, BPO International, and TalkPush. Through this delegation, the country’s Information Technology and Business Process Management (IT-BPM) sector is expecting to explore business potentials with the giant Indian-IT-BPM.

“As 14 out of the top 15 Indian ITBPM companies are already in the Philippines, our goal is to target the 2ndTier Indian IT-BPM companies to also explore the advantages of co-locating and eventually putting up operations in the Philippines, ” said Commercial Counselor Michael Alfred V. Ignacio, who represented the Philippine Investment and Trade Center in New Delhi.

PTIC New Delhi also arranged a meeting with NASSCOM’s Senior Vice President, Sangeeta Gupta, to discuss the latter’s plans to jointly organize a 15 to 20-member business delegation to the Philippines by mid-April, 2016 to explore new investments, potential joint venture partnerships and possible mutually beneficial cooperation in capacity building between the two countries which prominently count among the top global providers of IT-BPM services worldwide.

PTIC New Delhi, the Commercial Section of the Philippine Embassy in India, arranged a round-table meeting for the members of the Philippine delegation with the top IT executives of the Indian conglomerate Aditya Birla Group and NASSCOM, India’s foremost software industry association. For 2016, it is on the top priority on trade and investment of PTIC New Delhi to forward the country’s IT-BPM among other high potential sectors in India.

Atul Jayawant, President and Group CIO of the Aditya Birla Group, with two other CIOS of the Indian conglomerate, personally met with the Philippine Business Delegation. Ignacio, on the other hand, led and introduced the Philippine delegation during the event. The event primarily aims to jointly explore possible business partnerships in the future to take advantage of the conglomerate’s global scope and the Philippines’ expertise in IT-BPM among others.

“It is of high importance for our country to meet with top executives of IT-BPM industry in India since it will help us strengthen existing bilateral relations with India and further explore the potential of IT-BPM sector for both countries,” said Ignacio.

Aditya Birla Group is a $40-billion conglomerate with business spanning from manufacturing aluminum/metal, cement, pulp, and fiber, textiles, to services such as financial, fashion retail (Pantaloon, Louis Philip, Van Heusen, www.abof.com), telecommunications (Idea- with 180 Million subscribers), and its textile company, Indo-Phil Textiles. Furthermore, the Birla Family is known for its excellent relations with the Philippines. Rajashree Birla, mother of the CEO Kumar Birla, is currently serving as the Philippine Honorary Consul General in Mumbai.

“Given Aditya Birla’s long standing presence and close ties with the Philippines, the country’s IT-BPM sector is ready for renewed and potential new strategic partnerships to support the conglomerate’s global footprint and growth, particularly in the ASEAN’s 600-Million strong market with the entry into force of the ASEAN Economic Community, the country’s own 100million population and the Philippine IT-BPM industry’s strengths in both US and European markets,” said Ignacio during the business-to-business round table meeting arranged in the sidelines of NILF.