Dubai a hub for both the Gulf and Africa

Diwakar Nigam, the managing director of Newgen Software, an IT company based in New Delhi, talks to The National about how the main trends in the industry are impacting his business.

Diwakar Nigam, the managing director of Newgen Software, an IT company based in New Delhi, talks to The National about how the main trends in the industry are affecting his business.

Could you talk about what you are seeing when it comes to the IT sector in India, and how it is performing?

In India the software product industry is still at a very nascent stage when compared to the software services industry, which has already seen a matured growth. The government’s focus on Digital India, by increasing mobile and internet use in India, the growing phenomena of new age technologies such as social, mobile, cloud and analytics are the primary factors affecting the business dynamics positively.

What are the challenges?

Major challenges that the Indian IT sector faces are the threat of loss of business to foreign software companies. The government should take measures to counter this. It should lower taxes and ease regulations to provide the Indian software companies with a level playing field vis-a-vis their global competitors. Made in India software needs to be promoted to create confidence and awareness about the availability of high-quality products from Indian vendors.

Brexit has a mixed effect on India’s IT sector. In the short term, India will see a negative effect but then in the long term it is too early to predict the outcome. We have recently opened an office in UK to cater to the European market.

What are the new trends you are noticing?

Robotic-process automation, social media analytics and cloud and digital sensing are the emerging smart process-solution trends.

How important is the Arabian Gulf to the industry and what presence and plans do you have for the market?

The Arabian Gulf is an important market for India’s IT sector. We are currently present in Dubai, which acts as a central location to cater to customers and organisations in the Arabian Gulf and Africa. These areas are a major part of our growth and expansion plans. We have a strong partner network in this region and are working towards expanding this network in the region, with strong associations in the banking, healthcare and government sectors

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