Indo-Jap Venture To Tap Software Market

The five Indian companies are NIIT, Infosys, DCM Datasystems Ltd, M N Dastur and Satyam Computers.

The move, spearheaded by leading international consultant Kenichi Ohmae, is expected to provide a shot in the arm for exports of Indian software to Japan.

Jasdic Park, (the name derived from Japanese Software Development by Indian Companies) has been established recently in Tokyo, with an initial equity of about $2 million.

While the Japanese companies will bring in their contribution in the form of actual investment, the Indian counterparts' investment will be in the form of service.

The management of the company will comprise 10 representatives, one each from a company. The Japanese representatives will provide a feeling of comfort to the customer, both in terms of giving confidence that a local player is involved and also in terms of bridging the language and cultural gap.

 

The Indian representatives, on the other hand, will provide the Japanese customer the opportunity to choose from a wide array of software developed in India. When a customer approaches the company, all he needs to do is to inform the committee of his need. The committee will then decide which of the representatives is best suited for fulfilling the needs of the customer.

Interestingly, this could also mean that two or even three Indian companies would jointly undertake a project if the customer and the committee so desire. Each company has its own strength and the aim is to pool in these resources to benefit all the participants, said a senior executive of HCL group, which is participating in the venture through NIIT and HCL-Japan. For every deal that is struck for the customer through Jasdic Park, the customer will pay a certain percentage of the total amount of the deal as the fee.

It is learnt that Kenichi Ohmae has already begun aggressive marketing of Jasdic Park through his club.

The company hopes to generate business to the tune of about Rs 35 crore in the first year of operations. If the concept catches on, it will provide a great fillip to software exports from India to Japan, feel industry sources.