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NASSCOM community May 2018 Updates

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  • NASSCOM community May 2018 Updates

    2018/19 is off to a great start with stellar results across the board from the IT Industry. And of course, we saw the emergence of India’s first $100B M-Cap company, TCS. An extremely proud day for the IT industry, especially the NASSCOM community! We strongly believe we are seeing the emergence of the new era of Indian IT, defined more and more by value, innovation, talent and above all, the power of collaboration.

    That was also the focus of our flagship event in theUS, the NASSCOM C- Summit – to showcase the era of Digital Collaboration and the power of talent, innovation and collaboration in unleashing growth. A brilliant array of international speakers brought to the fore, learnings and use cases to open up a wide spectrum of opportunities which can be leveraged through global partnerships. We had over 200+ participants attending the summit and the feedback was resoundingly overwhelming. Importantly, we had more than 180 clients attending the conference who brought forth tremendous value which was particularly reflected in the 60+ one-on-one meetings (with them). Our partnership with USISPF and USIBC for the event worked really well, reinforcing the impact of a collaborative approach.

    On the start-up front, the Innotrek programme, under the auspices of 10000 Startups, culminates with an annual visit to the Valley. This was the fifth edition and so far, it has impacted 130 startups who have been connected to more than 150 influencers from the Valley. This year, culled from a list of 350 applications, the final 40 got to spend a week there and interact with the influencers such as the large companies, startups, accelerators, incubators and funders. For an impressive array of participating companies, ranging across IoT, ML/AI, Big Data/Analytics and NLP, this opportunity was a growth catalyst. It was quite encouraging to see 10 out of the 40 from Tier 2 & 3 cities. Some of the biggest investors in the valley like Engineering Capital, Accel, Inventus Cap, Emergent Ventures had specifically signed up for the “Investor Connect” session where they spent 1-1 time with start-ups to understand their business models, providing them feedback on how to go about raising money in the valley. In addition, Google Launchpad has expressed intent to partner with NASSCOM 10000 Start-ups in conducting various workshops across the country to identify start-ups working on AI and providing means and measures to support them through various Google teams in India. Among the other Accelerator visits, we also covered Plug n Play and Falcon. The Tech campus visits included the likes of ThoughtWorks, NetApp, Unity & Nvidia. It was incredible to witness a two-way communication - the Valley influencers being ‘influenced’ in no small measure by Innotrek participants.

    Increasing our global footprints has been a key focus area and towards this, agreements worth RMB 36 million (about $6 million) were signed between Indian service providers and Chinese customers at the launch of the corridor by China's Guiyang Municipal government and NASSCOM. As part of this agreement, Indian companies foraying into China will be offered rent-free space including other amenities which will provide an enabling environment, to work with Chinese partners and co-create high-value products.

    Some good news on the policy front too. You would recall in Nov, that several service tax refunds were rejected in Mumbai, on the pretext that data, emails etc. were received in India. We had represented the matter to the CBEC and Revenue Secretary. Today, we are very pleased that the CBEC has finally issued the circular, where they have clarified that the place of provision of services would be the recipient (of services) thereby according export status. We hope this clarification will put to rest the ongoing disputes and denials that companies have faced.

    The Singaporean Government’s Fair Consideration Framework (FCF) which came into effect in 2014 has proven to be discriminatory to workers of foreign origin. The impact in 2017 was particularly severe when companies put on the watch-list (including India-centric firms) saw visa approvals drop by as much as 92%. The NASSCOM team worked round the clock with Gov’t and we were happy to see the Dept. of Commerce (DOC) strongly counter this issue under the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) 2nd review by taking it up with the Singapore Ministry of Manpower (MOM). The efforts resulted in restoration of normalcy, concessions being secured and almost all leading Indian firms were taken off the FCF watch-list. We will continue to engage with DOC and our member companies to provide assistance towards preparation for the 3rd review.

    We also signed an agreement with IIT-Gandhi Nagar and the Gov’t of Gujarat to set up a NASSCOM IOT CoE in the IIT campus, with focus on development of innovative solutions in manufacturing and healthcare in collaboration with academia, local industry and startup ecosystem! Another key objective is to also grow a strong startup tech ecosystem in the state. The MOU was signed in the presence of the Gujrat CM and we are looking forward to inaugurating the center soon.

    We are all set to launch the NASSCOM CoE on IoT in Gurgaon, which will be the largest collaborative platform for innovation and problem-solving in Northern India. This is in partnership with MEITY and the State Gov’t. By bringing in the best minds from the industry, academia, start-ups and government our CoE aims to drive co-creation of solutions to accelerate India’s economic development and job creation. The Centre in Gurgaon will focus on the verticals of manufacturing/auto, healthcare and agriculture.

    Last, but not the least, as a follow-up to the MoU on Futureskills which was signed in April between NASSCOM and techUK (UK tech Association), we hosted Rt Hon Matt Hancock, SOS DCMS, UK Government and his delegation to a closed door Roundtable. The prestigious Futureskills project was unfurled (well ahead of its formal launch) in their presence, to an overwhelmingly positive feedback.

    The UK government also launched the fourth edition of India-UK TECH Rocketship Awards in partnership with Nasscom, designed at strengthening the Indian start-up ecosystem by giving them access to capital and platform to go global via the UK. The awards offer 7 winners a week-long trip to the UK exposing them to prospective business partners, investors and incubators, during the London Tech Week 2019. The winners will be selected

    from categories including AI, big data, cyber security, fintech, medtech, IoT etc in partnership with NASSCOM.
    Founder & Creative Mind of Megrisoft
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