New Delhi: Global research firm Gartner Inc expects an increase in travel to and from India, mirroring the growth trajectory of the country's information technology and business process outsourcing (BPO) segments.

"A rise in travel is expected, which would be much in line with the industry's growth in the middle and lower strata," Gartner India vice president (research), Partha Iyengar, said on Wednesday (Aug 25, 2005).

Earlier, Gartner had predicted the industry to post a 25-30 per cent growth during the current fiscal.

However, this would be disproportionate to the growth of the industry in higher levels, as for companies in these sectors would be deploying a large number of personnel for projects, he said.

These companies would deploy personnel depending on size of contracts and the relation with their clients, he said.

Iyengar said that Indian companies should have to put in much more effort to close a deal, compared with their counterparts in China.

"The client coming to India sees all the poor infrastructure - bad roads, slums and others in around the airports and builds a belief about the country," he said.

This 'belief' also reflects on the decision, which the client is expected to be making on the deal and this makes it more difficult to bag a contract than that in China.

He also said that China is not a threat to India due to country's lack in knowledge of English.