Startups Companies Drive Digital India at CeBIT 2015

The second edition of CeBIT India, organized by Hannover Milano Fairs, is considerably on lower key event with mediocre response particularly from participating companies compared to last year. This maybe mainly due to organizers for the CeBIT India event and the organizers of the BangaloreITE.Biz decided to part ways this year and have both the events held separately. However, CeBIT has its share of over 170 CXOs taking part in the three day event being at the Bangalore International Exhibition Centre. This year the event is focused on D1Conomy or Digital Economy that has got in a number of startups from across the country.

Now the state-government backed event Bangalore IT.Biz is likely to take place between December 8 and 10 in the city. And the event will have more focus on Make In India campaign.

While states such as Kerala, Uttar Pradesh and even Mizoram participated in the three day-event, he Karnataka government, which was a partner last year, stayed away. Last year, companies such as IBM, Mercedes-Benz and Vodafone were major crowd pullers.

“The state government were very clear that their event portfolio strategy is investment into Karnataka. But CeBIT is a market place, and we cannot tell the government that we will bring in thousands of global delegates .When partners work together, it should be towards the same direction and it is not the case this time,“ Mehul Lanvers Shah, MD, Hannover Milano Fairs India, said Shah.
 The fair, being held at the Bangalore International Exhibition Centre, expects to have 10,000 trade visitors this time, a slight uptick from the 9,311 that attended last year. About 100 exhibitors, out of the total 400, are from Karnataka. “Karnataka is still the backbone of CeBIT and will remain that,“  adds Shah.

Delivering the keynote address at the event, Union IT secretary Ajay Kumar, said the Centre was planning to e-route all government transactions including receipts and payments as part of the Digital India initiative by the Prime Minister Modi.

Omkar Rai, director general, Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), said the organization has lined up a Rs 500 crore incubation fund to support startups over the next 4-5 years. “We are developing 8 lakh sq ft of incubation space, across Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Gurgaon and other cities,“ he said.