Gitex-India 2007 eyes 15000 visitors

The sixth edition of Gitex-India (formerly Gitex Hyderabad), a premier annual mega information and communications technology (IT&C( products exhibition event, will be organised at the Hitex Exhibition grounds in Hyderabad between January 9 and 11, 2007.

The event will have an exhibition, Computer Shopper, conference tracks and felicitation to the best performing ICT companies.

"We are targetting an exhibition space of about 4,000 sq metres with over 150 exhibitors and 15,000 trade and business visitors for Gitex-India 2007. The event is expected to strike viable business deals, foreign tie-ups and investment collaborations," K Ratna Prabha, ICT principal secretary to the Andhra Pradesh government, told mediapersons here on Thursday.

As of now, nearly 75 companies had already booked the exhibition space, prominent among them being Satyam Computer Services Limited, Wipro, ECIL, Rapiscan, Microsoft, HSBC, Cognizant, Polaris, Deloitte besides a large number of small and medium enterprises, she said.

According to her, an attempt is being to make Gitex India's retail arm -- Computer Shopper -- more attractive by roping original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) such as IBM, HP, Compaq, Samsung, Sony, BenQ, LG and Lenova to open their direct outlets in the Computer Shopper so that best deals are made available to the shoppers and end-users.

"These dealers will be selling in a big way, computer hardware peripherals, office automation equipment such as desktops, laptops, i-pods, mobile phones, memory sticks, flash cards and other peripherals," Ratna Prabha said, adding that the state government would be extending 4 to 12.5 per cent exemption on payment of VAT by the purchasers at the Computer Shopper during the event.

Further, she said, the vendors had been requested to offer product promotion schemes and selling strategies such as scratch coupons and surprise gifts to the buyers at Gitex-India 2007.

Gitex-India will also recognise and felicitate the best-performing IT companies, segment-wise ie MNC, home-grown large, SME, hardware, tier-II location companies as a token of appreciation of their outstanding performance towards achieving the cause of growth of IT in the state.

"In order to draw the best mileage out of the event for the exhibitors, a conference on animation and gaming technologies by Nasscom, an investors meet and an e-governance conference by the state IT&C department and a workshop on HR potential have been planned she said, adding that Nasscom would come out with a report on the Indian animation industry during the event," she said.