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The foreign invasion

A new feature of IT India '97/Comdex is the participation of foreign companies, the countries represented being the US, the UK, Singapore and Taiwan.

From Singapore, in collaboration with ACI, India, came Seagate Singapore. Says Manish Kumar, assistant marketing manager, "Our participation in this

T O D A Y

• Net policing • The big investor • The foreign invasion • The twin draws

exhibition is mainly for information dissemination, product display, to announce schemes and to get some orders booked." He said one of the objectives was to strike business partnerships and identity new distribution outlets. The parent company in Singapore, American Component Singapore Pvt Ltd, is worth $ 100 million.

Creative Technology Ltd, a leader in digital home entertainment and the innovator of the 'sound blaster card', was in India essentially to "generate greater business and Internet awareness". Creative Technology is to soon sign a business agreement with Compu Age and Godrej Pacific. Gerard Lim, of Creative Technology, feels there is a niche market ready to be tapped for the company's products. According to him, the Internet was growing and the buying power existed for the firm's products to flourish.

The Taiwanese companies, meanwhile, were at this year's Comdex on an exploratory trip, showing more interest in collecting facts on the Indian market. Alicia Lee of United Hitech Corporation, Taiwan, (turnover $10 million) is here for the first time and hopes to find some suitable distributors for the company's range of motherboards.

Another motherboard manufacturer sniffing for a potential market is Ability Electronics (turnover $12 million). Says Grace Huang, sales manager, "It will take us some time to gauge the potential; we have just begun. Maybe we can find a good distributor."

Angelini Cheng of Enlight Corporation, Taiwan, manufacturer of cabinets, feels "India will be a big market for us in the next few years. Our products are now accepted in the US and Europe and we think the market here is really taking off." But she did feel profit margins could be low as competition over price was stiff in the Indian market.

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