Bangalore: Having failed to obtain work visas for almost a year to allow its Chinese engineers to work in India, Huawei Technologies India Private Ltd. (HTIPL) is hoping that the recent visit of Chinese President Hu Jintao will clear the mistrust over security concerns regarding Chinese companies operating in India.

And, more importantly, ease the stringent norms that are applied by the Indian External Affairs Ministry when it comes to issuing long-term work visas for the company's Chinese personnel.

Security problems

HTIPL, the Chinese wireless phone and network equipment company in Bangalore, which is Huawei Technologies' (revenues of $5.9 billion in 2005) largest overseas research and development centre, has in the past, like other Chinese companies operating in India, such as ZTE and UTStarcom, faced problems over the question of security. External Affairs Ministry officials have even been quoted in news reports as stating that there are concerns regarding the activities of Chinese companies operating in India and it is practically difficult to implement safeguards in highly technical areas.

Projects affected

Company sources told The Hindu that the non-issuing of visas had impacted on some of HTIPL's projects.

"We would like some of our people from China, especially at the senior level, like technical architects, to personally interact with our Indian customers both during field trials and final deployment," the sources said.

HTIPL has tried to overcome the work visa imbroglio by bringing in people on a business visa, but that entails its own set of problems: Chinese staff needing to go back and reapply for a visa within a short time. What makes the visa denial even more exasperating is the non-availability of any information on why it is being denied.

Bits and pieces

The reason why Indian engineers aren't as experienced in delivering end-to-end solutions is because when it comes to outsourcing work, American, European and even Chinese companies have followed the practice of giving Indian companies bits and pieces of the work, with project management, final integration and delivery to the client being undertaken from the overseas location.

Indian engineers are transported overseas and trained or posted at the client's location if needed.

Sources also disclosed that many of Huawei India's customers, telecom service providers such as BSNL, Tata Teleservices, Reliance, Bharti and MTNL, would feel more comfortable and even confident if they were given a sales pitch by a senior official of the parent (Chinese) company.

Officials at HTIPL are hoping that Mr. Hu's visit could change the Indian mindset. As Mr. Hu himself said during his visit, "We need to properly address issues that may arise in business interaction, take steps to remove barriers to trade and investment and foster an enabling environment for building stronger business ties."

Expansion plans

HTIPL, which currently employs around 1,300 engineers (of whom 50 are Chinese nationals), is hoping to increase its technical workforce to 2,000 by 2008 when it opens its new 20-acre facility at Whitefield in Bangalore.

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