“Bahrain’s banking sector is a lucrative opportunity for Indian IT firms”

Abdullah Al Hasan, head-IT and telecom program, Economic Development Board (EDB), Bahrain, was in Bangalore recently for establishing EDB’s office in India. He spoke to Pankaj Mishra about how he plans to convince Indian IT companies to invest in Bahrain. According to the Washington-based Heritage Foundation, Bahrain is ranked as the freest economy amongst the Arab countries and is the fifteenth freest economy worldwide on the Index of Economic Freedom.

What kind of opportunity does Bahrain hold for the Indian software firms?
There are over 180 financial institutions and banks in the country most of whom are seeking to automate their operations. The Banking and Financial Services Industry (BFSI) is the most lucrative opportunity for Indian IT firms. Moreover, there are several brick and mortar companies in Bahrain who are looking at implementing ERP, SCM and CRM. We are already talking to Wipro, Infosys and a host of other software firms. e-governance is another big opportunity for Indian software firms. The Government of Bahrain has chalked out a strategy to create a ‘digital government’. Opportunities lie in the areas of Web hosting, automation of various processes and Enterprise Application Integration (EAI). E-learning is another area where there is immense business potential. The Ministry of Education, Bahrain is formulating strategies for e-learning initiatives.

What will be the role of EDB’s India office?
Our office in Bangalore will function as a window to facilitate investment from India. The thrust will be to identify potential business partners and give them all possible information to assist them in making an investment decision. The Birla Institute of Technology recently opened its campus in Bahrain to offer degrees in Computer Engineering and Science. We want more such alliances to take place so that a pool of talent can be developed in Bahrain.

How conducive are the infrastructure facilities in Bahrain?
EDB has set a target of $800 million for investments in all sectors in the year 2002. To support that, Bahrain has got an advance telecom infrastructure in place. Teledensity in the country is over 25 percent. The country’s telecommunication provider, Batelco, has an extensive network offering services such as ISDN, ATM, LANConnect and International Direct Dialling to more than 200 nations. Mobile and fax data services are offered through the GSM network. The country allows 100 percent ownership of property and business to all foreign investors. Even the legal infrastructure is set to undergo a fundamental change with the introduction of e-commerce laws by the end of this year.