At a press conference following meetings between the Indian delegates and representatives of 160 Israeli hi-tech companies, Chaukar emphasized the compatible nature of Israeli and Indian hi-tech industries: “You can contribute the technology and we’ll provide the mass production and external sourcing.

We do not rule out investing in Israeli companies either.”

There are increasing ties between Israel and India in the field of counterterrorism and other security-related fields (see http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=45263 for one such example), as evidenced by an unconfirmed report by the Press Trust of India today (Sunday) that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will be visiting India in September, the first such visit by an Israeli prime minister since the two countries established full diplomatic relations 11 years ago. The report also indicated that the Israeli delegation accompanying Sharon will include high-level business figures.

If this report is accurate, it is far from unexpected. Earlier this month, a fifteen-member delegation of Indian information technology leaders signed 22 deals with Israeli companies during a visit to the Jewish state. The visit, led by Kishor Chaukar, was designed in order to familiarize the visiting Indian business leaders with local communication companies, their technology and to assess the feasibility of business partnerships for global marketing. Chaukar emphasized in particular the possibilities of Israeli-Indian joint ventures aimed at the European and American hi-tech markets. And, during a meeting with Minister of Industry and Trade, Ehud Olmert, in Jerusalem, the delegates discussed the integration of Israeli cellular, land-line, internet and communication companies in Indian projects.

At a press conference following meetings between the Indian delegates and representatives of 160 Israeli hi-tech companies, Chaukar emphasized the compatible nature of Israeli and Indian hi-tech industries: “You can contribute the technology and we’ll provide the mass production and external sourcing. We do not rule out investing in Israeli companies either.” Among the key Israeli IT companies that met with the Indian delegation were Alvarion, MRV, AudioCodes, Comverse, Vocaltec and Gilat Communications, and Israeli Venture Capital Funds that were represented included Pitango, APAX and Benchmark.

Several Israeli hi-tech companies already have solid, established marketing, outsourcing and R&D partnerships with Indian software houses. Indian media reports indicate that a similar Israeli delegation is likely to visit Bangalore, Delhi and Mumbai, India, in November.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 23rd, 2003 and is filed under news.