IT industry lobby Nasscom will highlight India's advantages as the ideal destination for information technology enabled services (ITES) at an international conclave that begins in Mumbai later this month.

Around 1,200 companies from across the globe including 25 from China will participate in the interactive conference, Nasscom-2006: India Leadership Forum, to be held from Feb 15 to 17.

The forum will see global customers coming together to share their success with India Inc. and its growing clout in the world economy.

"This is perhaps one of its kind meet in the world which is purely focused on the business to business interactions with a range of participants," Nasscom vice president Sangeeta Gupta told IANS. "Every year the forum is organised as a unique platform for customers, clients and service providers to interact and understand each other," she said.

"This year the thrust is going to be on 'Advantage India' or why India is superior to the other alternatives which may be considered by prospective clients," Gupta said.

This exclusive congregation of leaders will also see participation by a number of Fortune 500 companies, which have a strong presence in India and are customers of the Indian IT firms.

On the presence of the Chinese companies at Nasscom-2006, Gupta said it was a clear sign that "while at a certain level there is competition, our two countries are moving towards an era of cooperation in ITES".

"The event will showcase inherent strengths that have enabled the IT industry to attain higher benchmarks in delivering services and the significant role it plays in the emerging global economy," Gupta said.

On the other thrust areas, she said "innovation" was going to be new driver of the ITES business in the country after the first two waves of economy and quality.

"We will now focus on the role to be played by ITES in partnering with the economy at large in social development," she said.

The conclave would also debate on would be best practices from successful companies, key challenges in large multi year global sourcing deals, third generation outsourcing and public-private partnerships for sustainable development.

"We are also trying to provide a platform to players of all levels irrespective of how big or small they are. The Fortune 500 companies will be able to interact with emerging Indian companies too," Gupta said.

"Especially after recent debates of security issues and fears of job losses in some client countries we have worked closely with the industry to focus on a 'trusted sourcing' platform to rebuild confidence," she said.

( www.newkerala.com)