Victoria on Indian trade mission

Victorian government ICT minister Marsha Thomson and 30 local organisations are to embark on a trade mission to India in an attempt to affirm Victoria as an ICT investment capital.

The delegation would visit Bangalore trade show BangaloreIT.com 2004, and attend networking functions in Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, and New Delhi from 24 October to 3 November.

The mission follows Victoria's "Opening Doors to Export" plan that identified India as a key market for export growth.

Thomson said more than half of the companies interested were small Victorian ICT companies and several multinational ICT companies including EDS Australia, Logica CMG, NEC Business Solutions and Novell.

"Over the past three years, we've supported more than 265 companies to attend technology trade fairs such as Comdex Fall in Las Vegas, Milia in Cannes and CeBIT in Hannover," Thomson said.

"As a result of attending these trade fairs, Victorian companies have gone on to secure export sales of $300 million," he said.

Local companies on the mission include the likes of software and services company nSynergy, .net software provider Reverse Tech and telephony company Polaris Communications.