Bangalore: The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on May 2 announced the setting up of a US-based offshore information technology committee, and also an initiative to issue "Quality Stamp" for Indian IT services.

CII's new president, Ashok Soota, told a news conference in Bangalore that the committee's objective is to provide a platform for Indian companies in the US to exchange views on market trends in the US and establish norms for healthy competition.

The committee's role would also include safeguarding the India brand equity and interacting with the US administration on issues such as totalisation agreement and visa issues, Soota, the first CII president from the services sector, said.

Soota would lead a CEOs mission to the US to set this process in motion as well as to meet with US administration officials between June 17 and June 21.

With a view to bringing the North East into the "mainstream', CII would open an office in Guwahati shortly, Bangalore-based Soota said, adding, the one in Nagaland has already been set up.

Another new initiative of the CII would be "Quality Stamp" for Indian IT services under the CII IT-enabled services committee. The stamp, according to him, would be a "character certificate" to win customer confidence.

"It will have stringent qualifying criteria based on the CII 'Business Excellence Award' model," he said.

PTI