Hyderabad: Union Minister for Divestment, Communications and Information Technology Arun Shourie today (Jan 8, 2004) urged the Indian industry to allay the apprehensions of some countries against IT (Information Technology) outsourcing.

Speaking at the 10th Partnership Summit organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Shourie underscored the need to educate the Governments, companies and media in those countries that their economies would actually benefit from outsourcing.

Complimenting National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM) for doing a commendable job in this regard, he said further steps were needed to convey the message to one and all.

"They expect our countries not to export steel and marine products, but to open up our markets for their goods, but when it comes to accessing the services sector, they are planning anti-outsourcing laws," he remarked.

He said since the elections for American Presidency, Vice Presidency and the Senate were due this year many were looking at the outsourcing issue to stoke up their election campaign. "India is moving ahead with a combination of talent, cost and infrastructure and those who are opposing outsourcing would be the losers," he quipped.

Speaking on the country's emerging telecom sector, Shourie said India was keen to collaborate with Malaysia and Singapore in research and development in telecommunication technologies. Such joint projects in R&D could cover wireless technologies, using the existing copper network for broadband services and development of open source software.

Lauding the tremendous infrastructure development achieved by Malaysia, as highlighted by Malaysia's Minister of Works Swamy Vellu, Shourie said India would like to emulate their model for expeditious execution of the infrastructure projects.

Emphasising the need for partnership, he pointed out that during the last two years, India entered into crucial agreements with Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia and other Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries. He said the ambitious free trade agreement during the recently concluded South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) meet in Islamabad would become a reality in one and half years.

He said India was adding 1.3 million new subscribers in cellular telephony and two million new subscribers in fixed lines and mobile sector every month. The country has also laid 5,00,000 kms optic fibre network. He said the work was on to use the existing copper cable network for providing broadband services.