HK trade hits IT language hurdle

Indian IT companies having technologically superior IT solutions stand good chances of dominating the Chinese market but these solutions needed to be customised in terms of language.

Speaking at the Bharat Chamber of Commerce, Loretta Wan, regional director of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, pointed out that “the lack of customisation posed a big barrier for Indian IT solutions, since the companies had the right solution but it needed to be customised in terms of language in order to be marketed all over China.”

The problem could be solved if Indian IT companies in collaboration with Hong Kong based IT companies developed customised IT solutions or replicated the solution for Chinese market, said Wan.

This was particularly not a new phenomenon and many Indian IT companies were taking this route. Mainland China supposedly was the biggest market for high tech products and solutions but could not be exploited by Indian IT biggies.

Wan said there was growing demand for advanced technologies in these market as manufacturing and business processing demand was surging.

Another segment which had good potential was the consumer products and FMCG category which had a ready market as China was the largest consumer market. Hong Kong situated south of China was the easiest gateway to this consumer market in terms of technology or services.

It had benefits like strong independent legal system, intellectual property protection, free flow of information, goods and capital between China and Hong Kong, low and simple tax system and convertible currency.