'India set to be KPO, EPO destination'

The country was not only recognised as a BPO destination, but "we are going to be a EPO base also": Nath.

From being a business process outsourcing destination, India will emerge as a knowledge processing and engineering processing base, Union Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath said on Friday.

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Making this observation after inaugurating the third "modern functional" Intellectual Property Office here, he said India, in the past was known to be a intellectual property (IP) user but it was now converting itself as an IP producer.

The country was proving to be successful in the pharma sector with 70 US FDA approvals to its credit, besides being recognised for its manufacturing capabilities.

Kamal Nath said companies were looking to India to do clinical research, especially when such efforts cost one billion USD outside There was also synergy between IT, medicine and biotechnology.

India was no longer a manufacturing base only but the "India of tomorrow will be a KPO."

The country was not only recognised as a BPO destination, but "we are going to be a EPO (engineering process outsourcing) base also," he said.

The Minister said the design work by major American companies was being done in India and to spur such activities, good laws were needed, which had to be implemented properly. This meant that there was a need for proper infrastructure.

With the country engaged more and more with the world and the global economy envisaged to soar from the current $350 billion to 500 $billion in three years time, the nation was undergoing a great change.