In March 2000, after spending more than $40 billion over several years to save the Long-Term Credit Bank, the Japanese government finally sold it to Ripplewood Holdings for $1 billion.

Three years later, after being re-christened as Shinsei Bank, it is Japan's most profitable bank, apart from being the most efficient. How, and more important, by whom, was this effected?

Around 1,250 Indians from various Indian software companies like Nucleus Software, i-flex technologies and MphasiS, it appears, played a major role in the turnaround, and in slashing the bank's infotech costs to a tenth.

Nucleus, which has a similar contract with Tokyo Star Bank, according to managing director Vishnu Dusad, is now planning to set up office in China for servicing the Japanese market.

Some of India's software giants are already there -- TCS has a set-up in China, Satyam is expanding its office, and Infosys on Thursday announced it was setting up a subsidiary in China.

Each of these companies, National Association of Software and service Companies president Kiran Karnik said, were essentially looking at servicing the Japanese market from China -- the Japanese are more comfortable dealing with companies in China, and China has a large enough supply of computer professionals.

Examples such as these were the stock talk at the first showcasing of India's software might at a seminar organised on Thursday by Nasscom and the China Council for Promotion of Investment and Trade in Shanghai.

The Shanghai Stock Exchange, a participant in Thursday's seminar, to cite another instance, is finalising a contract with TCS for the latter to design its trading and clearing systems.

Over 300 Chinese firms -- including banks, software and pharmaceuticals companies, and even representatives of various provinces -- participated in the seminar inaugurated by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Wu Zengshu, from the industry department of the Hebei province, who had come to attend the seminar with 11 other officials, told Business Standard that he wanted to meet India's infotech firms.

In March, in fact, the Hebei province sent a delegation headed by their vice-chairman to India for this purpose. A larger delegation will visit in November.

Inaugurating the seminar, Vajpayee said, "It is self-evident that our respective core competence in hardware and software provides a natural ground for an effective alliance in the infotech industry."

So what was it that Indian software firms did to turn around Shinsei Bank? First, according to Nucleus' Dusad, they moved the bank's operations from a mainframe to a PC-based network.

This cut costs to a twentieth -- overall infotech costs for the bank fell from $150 million to $15 million a year -- and also allowed the bank more flexibility in its operations.

Mainframe operations were so cumbersome that accounts could be balanced just twice a year; now it gets done every month.

Indian software also allowed the bank to dramatically cut costs of using ATMs so that the bank was able to offer this service free. Most banks in Japan, by contrast, charge 100 yen for a transaction.

Other big Japanese clients being serviced by Indian firms out of Japan include General Electric, Toshiba, and Braxton (Deloitte is known by this name in Japan).

While firms like Satyam Computer have also got some Chinese clients, Virender Aggarwal, senior vice-president (Asia-Pacific), confirmed that China-specific business was likely to remain small in the first few years.