Microsoft-ICIL Alliance to Boost India’s E-Commerce

An alliance between Microsoft Corp. India Private Limited and International Computers (India) Limited (ICIL) is all set to grab a piece of the e-commerce pie in India.

Under the terms of the tie-up, ICIL will develop e-commerce solutions based on
Microsoft platform and technologies and will address the growing domestic
and international e-commerce markets, says Microsoft India.

“Microsoft India
and ICIL alliance would drive market growth enabling companies to implement
the right e-commerce strategies and connect to customers and partners with
world-class solutions,” say Sanjay Mirchandani, Microsoft India’s managing director.

“The Internet has defined a new way of doing business, and e-commerce helps
companies of all sizes take advantage of potential that lies therein,”
explained Sanjay. The industry estimates put electronic commerce revenues at
over $ 15 billion in Asia-Pacific by the year 2002 and Indian companies are
poised to be significant contributor to that number, he pointed out.

According to a recent NASSCOM (National Association of Software and Service
Companies) report, the web market in India is slated to cross US $ 714
million (Rs 3000 crore) mark by 2002.

ICIL, which is jointly owned by Fujitsu Japan, ICL UK, RPG India and Jardine Fleming of Hong Kong, will set up Microsoft Centers of Excellence in Pune and New Delhi where it will conduct research and development and training on products and solutions based around Microsoft’s Digital Nervous System concept.

“As Microsoft’s premier electronic commerce solutions associate in India, we
expect to leverage the company’s rich domain expertise along with the latest
Microsoft technologies and tools to create a top-level consulting service on
Microsoft platforms, products and branded solutions for e-commerce market
worldwide.” said LC Singh, president and CEO of ICIL. ICIL expects at least
40 percent of its revenue to come from e-commerce in three year’s time.

Though Singh said that ICIL was working on several product ideas for launch
on the Internet for the global market, he did not specify the nature of the
products. However, he said that a product enabling retailers to sell
merchandise on the Internet was likely to be among the first offerings by
the partnership.

As a Microsoft certified solution provider, ICIL will deliver the expertise
required by customers to develop, deploy and host commerce systems, and will
jointly work with Microsoft on strategic accounts. Microsoft Consultancy
Services will train ICIL personnel on a range of e-commerce products and
technologies.

Meanwhile Microsoft will extend support to ICIL in marketing their e-commerce solutions in India as well as in international markets.