SDH helped UPTEC to realize its vision to expand in China. UPTEC Computer Consultancy Limited tie-up with a Chinese MNC INSPUR. The US$ 10 million 50-50 joint venture company will establish base in China to cater to the IT and IT education sector.

Upendra Kumar, Managing director of UPTEC said that China offers immense potential."As far as the information technology sector is concerned, China today is what India was in the early 1990s. It is ready to take off and as per our estimates; it will have a huge expansion, just like India, which has now established itself world over."

All the right ingredients are there, Kumar pointed out, mentioning that the Chinese government supports the IT industry in terms of policies and the Chinese people are interested in furthering their careers through IT services. Kumar observed that many foreign companies, particularly American, have established base in China which has a cost benefit even over India.

While North America would be the obvious choice in terms of infrastruture, mainland China offers a good combination of both infrastructure and the promise of volumes.It is on this insight that UPTEC was keen on entering China and though initially was considering setting up a subsidiary, later started looking at various options for a joint venture.

"We approached a lot of companies and thereafter had a detailed discussion with four of them," said Kumar.The deal was finally signed with an IT major - Inspur Group Ltd. The company, which reached a turnover of US$ 2.9 billion last fiscal, will take care of the management of the JV, while UPTEC will take care of the technical aspect.

The chairman and the chief technical officer of the JV company will be UPTEC¡¯s nominees and the company will have an equal number of directors on board from both partners, he said. The other officers will be nominated by the partner company.While trainers and educators from the Indian arm will visit China for a couple of weeks to a two-year deputation to impart training, Chinese trainers will also visit Lucknow to get trained.

Kumar said that both UPTEC and Inspur are applying for clearances from statutory authorities in India and China, which is expected to be through in a couple of months.

"We are expecting to begin operations by November,¡± Kumar said adding that initially the JV will set up base in two major cities - Jinan, which is the capital of the most prosperous province, Shandong and in Beijing.The company is looking at a base in 10 cities in a year with a business of more than USD$10 million in about three years, Kumar said.

About UPTEC Computer Consultancy Limited

UPTEC is a 100% IT-oriented company established as a joint venture, that was promoted by UP Electronics Corporation Ltd. (a govt. undertaking). In 12 successful years of operations, UPTEC has gone from strength to strength. Those at UPTEC's helm have formerly been associated with leading Institutions such as IIMs, IITs, IBM & Bell Systems (USA). While the company is successful in several diverse activities, the single uniting factor is the total focus on information technology. UPTEC's divisions encompass territories of Professional Education, Software Development & Exports, Content Development, Hardware Networking & Storage Solutions and HR Services.