On March 27-30, the RUSSOFT, Russian association of software developers, together with the Association of Electronics Developers and Manufacturers Association (EDMA) carried out a business mission of Russian high-tech companies to India.
The expediency of the visit was due to the fact that thanks to the active position of the country’s leadership, India has shown large-scale growth in recent years, including the IT sphere. The introduction of anti-Russian sanctions by Western countries has accelerated understanding the need to ensure technological sovereignty by all friendly (to the Russia) countries. The example of Russia’s achievement of technological sovereignty, as well as the obvious complementarity of the IT industry of both countries, gave impetus to the development of cooperation between Russia and India as strategic partners, which can ensure both countries a place among the technological leaders of the BRICS countries in the new technological paradigm.
RUSSOFT members became participants of the business mission: CDO Global, HRlink, ICL Services, Medialooks, OPENDEV, SPIRIT | VideoMost, Westlink, YARD, BaseAlt, Bee Pitron, GenIT/Voltah, Geoscan Group, as well as companies from the EDMA – Kobak Lab, MCST, INFORMTECHNIKA Group.
The participants of the business mission held a number of negotiations with Indian IT companies and organizations interested in Russian IT solutions. Made in Russia collective stand, which was organized by the Russian Export Center at the Smart Cities India exhibition, was one of the venues.
On March 27, a meeting was held at the headquarters of the Indian association NASSCOM, which has more than 30 years of experience in the development of the IT industry both domestically and globally. It was possible to discuss the directions and organization of further cooperation between the countries in the field of IT, which was initiated two years ago during RUSSOFT’s visit to India and after the signing of a Cooperation Agreement between the two associations.
“Now we are seeing India’s great interest in cooperation with Russia in the field of IT and digitalization, so we continue to establish technological partnership between our countries, with the support of the Russian Export Center, which helps our companies to find partners and organize negotiations. Indeed, it is still difficult for our software to compete with other countries that have a huge market giving them a head start in financial opportunities and access to leading consumers. However, Indian partners are aware of all the risks associated with technological dependence and the lack of the ability to protect their IT systems from attacks, and therefore are ready to use Russian solutions that ensure security and sovereignty,” said Valentin Makarov, President of RUSSOFT.
On March 28, the participants of the business mission met with the Russian-Indian IT Association RISING (Russia India Special Interest Group). The Association is intended to bring together private companies and government organizations, research partners from educational and research institutions from India and Russia in order to promote common interests in the field of technology.
Within the framework of the event, Valentin Makarov, President of RUSSOFT, and Chairman of the Chamber for Indo-Russian Technological Cooperation of RISING – Commander Virendra Kumar Jaitley made welcoming remarks. Russian companies participating in the business mission presented their technological solutions, and Indian partners shared the specifics of entering the Indian IT market. All participants were able to hold a series of further b2b meetings to discuss partnership opportunities in more detail.
With the support of RUSSOFT, the Russian-Indian Business Forum “Strategic partnership for development and growth” was held in New Delhi on March 29-30.
On the first day of the forum, a solemn ceremony was held to sign a Memorandum of Understanding between RUSSOFT, the Association for the Export of Technological Sovereignty and the Russia India Special Interest Group (RISING), aimed at developing bilateral ties between India and Russia in the field of information technology, development and production of IT solutions, employment expansion and human capital growth in IT areas.
According to the memorandum, RUSSOFT will become a leading partner of the RISING Association in the field of information technology in Russia, engaged in promoting cooperation with India in the field of IT, and will also advise Russian government agencies on regulating relations between Russia and India in the field of IT, promote bilateral trade, conduct industry events and research.
The RUSSOFT Association also held a session on “Digitalization in Industry and Microprocessors Invention for the New Wave of Tech Innovation” at the forum, moderated by Valentin Makarov, President of RUSSOFT, and Ivan Pokrovsky, Executive Director of the Electronics Developers and Manufacturers Association (EDMA).
The speakers of the session were representatives of RUSSOFT companies who took part in the business mission:
Evgeny Friedland, Commercial Director of ICL Services: “A year ago, the situation for exporting services from Russia turned out to be very difficult: many economic processes were stopped, contracts and partnership agreements were terminated, Russian banks were disconnected from the international system, and Western vendors stopped providing services and selling products in the Russian Federation. All this has greatly affected the business of Russian companies. What we need now is a proactive position and joint work to replace the decisions of the departed companies. We don’t have time to think right now. We must take the initiative into our own hands, act boldly and look for opportunities to strengthen relations with partners in India and other friendly countries, form joint ventures, build new economic ties and business models. Both Russian and Indian companies see great prospects for cooperation.“
Mikhail Kukharenko, Advisor to the CEO of Basalt SPO: “We see a certain interest on the part of Indian partners – both in our products – the Alt line of operating systems, and in the technologies that we use. There are all prerequisites for the development of interesting cooperation with commercial companies and with Indian state institutions.”
Pavel Stepanov, Deputy General Director, Geoscan Group of Companies: “Today at the forum we discussed cooperation with Indian partners both in India and around the world. The ecosystem in India, which can be created with the participation of Russian high-tech companies, can be a platform not only for the local market, but also around the world. We see a large number of companies and partners ready to cooperate with Russia, and we will continue strengthening these ties.”
In confirmation of the relevance of the Forum, Mikhail Gusev, representative of the Skolkovo Foundation in India, confirmed that all opportunities for cooperation between Russia and India are now open.
The list of speakers also included:
- Varun Manwani, Director, Sahasra Electronics Private Limited
Ravi Sachdeva, Chief Executive Officer, Advanced Digital Technologies
As part of the RUSSOFT business mission, the domestic system integrator GenIT, a member of RUSSOFT, and Rustech Development Private Limited (India) have signed a cooperation agreement.
“The Indian side’s interest in the integration digital platform, which GenAiTi has been developing since 2016, is due to the need for flexible management of integration processes in the digitalization of public services in India and in the field of public-private partnership. The Indian partners especially stressed that the domestic integration platform, due to the well-thought-out architecture of universal connection of all kinds of data sources and consumers, will simplify the implementation of complex integration projects in the future,” commented Alexander Volkov, CEO of GenAiTi.
Following the results of the business mission, Westlink Group, a vendor and developer of intelligent solutions, a member of RUSSOFT, positively assessed the potential of technology companies in India.
“We saw a request from the participants of the Indian IT market for our development – the intelligent Linkage Navigator platform, and established contacts with potential partners. Our solution provides smart and end-to-end control of all performance indicators in any business area using artificial intelligence, machine learning and digital modeling of large data flows. Russian developers have a high potential for exporting software solutions. Our platform has decent prospects in the niche of business software for successful promotion and development in the Indian market. I am sure that RUSSOFT’s cooperation with the Russian-Indian IT association RISING will open up new opportunities for us,” said Konstantin Kozerog, President of Westlink Group.
