The Embassy of India to the Philippines is promising deepened ties, dynamic opportunities, and diverse engagements between Philippine and Indian companies on the development of the digital economy in the upcoming Tech Summit on March 5.
In a press conference in Taguig City on Feb. 23, Indian Ambassador to the Philippines Shambhu Kumaran said they hope that the inaugural India-Philippines Tech Summit (IPTS) will be the “beginning of a structured conversation between India and the Philippines in the area of digital technology and digital economy, covering e-governance.”
With the strength of India’s engagement in the country, predominantly through the information technology (IT) sector with 30 to 40 Indian companies investing in the Philippines and employing around 150,000 to 200,000 Filipinos, the summit aims to further extend India’s current technological expertise and models to the Philippine market.
The summit will gather 57 Indian companies, with varying presence in the current Philippine business landscape, working on the fields of agri-tech, fin-tech, and health tech.
The summit will focus on those three sectors since they are the priority areas identified by the Marcos administration, Kumaran explained.
“Through this event, we will have a platform and leading Indian companies will have the opportunity to present their capabilities," said the ambassador.
By bringing their experiences and knowledge to Filipinos, Indian firms will explore synergies in integrating advanced farming process technologies and post-harvest processing and marketing, for instance, to drive growth in the agricultural value chain.
For health, India will share their diagnostic technologies in developments in medical devices, methods to provide affordable medicines, and enhancing health security.
Firms are also looking for engagements to better render services for digital payments.
The Indian Embassy hopes to hone business-to-business (B2B) and government-to-business (G2B) relationships through the summit by showcasing more of what India’s evolving digital landscape has to offer.
In particular, the summit will feature three segments namely the “Inspire” segment to discuss challenges and opportunities in the priority sectors; the “Showcase” segment to present company innovations and projects; and the “Entrepreneur” segment to highlight the entrepreneurial ecosystem of both countries.
Kumaran remarked that the response to the summit has been positive with “Indian companies being confident in progress in the Indian economy, and Philippine companies being open and interested in exploring synergies and leveraging what India has achieved.”
Given the abundance of dialogue and opportunities offered, the Embassy hopes to see potential partnerships sealed during or as a result of the summit.
“I’m hopeful that there will be a few Letters of Intent and memoranda between companies. Frankly, our approach is not to look at the commercial side of the conversation. We want a platform that brings companies together and their commercial conversations are for them to build up on,” emphasized the ambassador.
Among the noted partners for the event are the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), Digital Pilipinas, Pulse63, and SGV.
The IPTS will be held on March 5 at Shangri-La The Fort from 1 p.m. onwards. Interested parties are urged to register online for the event. No fees will be obtained to gain entry into the summit.