Press Releases
Business Development Mission to India Brings New Business, Partnerships and Investment to Montgomery County
For Immediate Release: Thursday, December 20, 2007
Montgomery County’s recent business development mission to India, led by the Montgomery County Department of Economic Development (DED), was a success on numerous fronts. Targeted meetings and roundtable discussions over 10 days with nearly 200 Indian life sciences and advanced technology companies have already yielded positive results including:
• Icreon Communications (www.icreon.com), a software development company headquartered in the National Capital Region of India, revised its plans to launch its U.S. operations and traveled to Montgomery County to meet with DED staff and visit the County’s Silver Spring and Rockville Innovation Centers. Icreon is planning a return visit in April 2008 to complete the incubator application process and has entered discussions with Rockville-based Indigo Arc (www.indioarc.com) about forming a business partnership;
• e-Ready Solutions, which will be moving into the County’s Rockville Innovation Center in the spring of 2008, in a consortium with its sister companies Triton e-Ready Solutions (P) Ltd. and e-Ready Technologies (P) Ltd., has entered into an Memorandum of Understanding with the Government of India to provide supply, installation and/or support of educational software, biometric hardware and software and office automation software to 110,000 government-funded community centers across India that serve a market of 1.1 billion citizens. Truehart Systems International, located in the County’s Silver Spring Innovation Center and also part of the India delegation, will be providing homeland security services under the e-Ready Solutions MOU;
• The India-based Electronics Software Export Promotion Council (ESC) will bring five member companies to visit Montgomery County in early 2008. Through a grant from the Government of India, ESC is planning to lease space in the Rockville Innovation Center to serve as the U.S. hub for these five advanced technology companies as they launch their North American operations;
• HarVest Bank of Maryland, another delegation member, has been in contact with several companies it met with during the mission about possible financing opportunities; and
• Sharma Law Group, based in Rockville, entered into discussions with India-based law firms, trade organizations and government entities about providing assistance with business start-up and worker relocation into Montgomery County, Maryland;
• Several large, India-based biologics, pharmaceutical and drug-discovery companies expressed a desire to visit Montgomery County, Maryland in 2008 to explore location, partnership and joint venture opportunities; and
• The Montgomery County Department of Economic Development may participate in a Maryland Department of Transportation-led mission to India in early 2008 to facilitate ongoing discussions with a major India-based airline company, which is looking for a North American hub for its first direct US-India flight.
“Though I was unable to join the delegation as originally planned due to the Special Session called to address the state’s serious budget deficit, I am very pleased with reports of the initial results,” said Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett. “I applaud the tremendous preparation and hard work put in by the entire delegation to ensure the success of this mission, which includes the anticipated headquarters location of a leading Indian software development company, a major business services contract in India for one of our County incubator companies, and several other potential company attractions, partnerships and investment opportunities as a direct result of this important endeavor.”
The nearly 30-member India delegation included 18 private sector businesses, five Montgomery College representatives (including College President Dr. Brian Johnson), a representative from the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development (DBED), and a team from the County’s Economic Development Department. The delegation participated in numerous business meetings, site tours, presentations, roundtables and networking sessions in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai and New Delhi.
“The Montgomery County-led mission to India was a measurable success, and provided a great platform for us to better understand the opportunities and challenges of building two way business relationships with Indian companies,” said Christopher Linthwaite, General Manager, PD-Direct, Invitrogen Corporation, and delegation member. “In turn, we saw clear signals that Indian life sciences firms are strongly considering Montgomery County as a very viable location for business expansion opportunities.”
"The business opportunities abound in India, and this allowed us to strengthen our existing partnerships and make new ones with many innovative, highly competent technology firms,” said delegation member Heinan Landa, President, Optimal Networks, Inc. “Even better, we found some great business relationships for our clients – so that hopefully everyone benefits from the mission!"
Planning and implementation of the India mission was assisted by The Confederation of Indian Industry, the State Bank of India, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s U.S. Foreign and Commercial Service, the Indian Association of Biotechnology Led Enterprises (ABLE), the Indian Electronics and Computer Software Export Promotion Council (ESC), the Association of Small and Medium Knowledge Industries (ASMKI), the National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM), Biotech Consortium India Limited (BCIL), The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE), the U.S.-India Business Council (USIBC), the Government of the Indian state of Haryana and the Embassy of India Ministry of Commerce.
“Our business development mission to India accomplished all we set out to achieve and more, thanks to the hard work and commitment of our business delegates,” said Dr. Pradeep Ganguly, director of the Montgomery County Department of Economic Development. “We were able to conduct an extraordinary number of highly productive and engaging meetings in a short period of time. Moreover, these meetings have resulted in several key wins. We are hopeful that it that will bring new businesses, jobs, investment and increased global recognition to Montgomery County in the near future.”
The success of the India business mission comes shortly after Leggett’s equally successful business mission to Israel in October, which resulted in two small Israeli-based companies announcing plans to expand operations in Montgomery County and the announcement of the County’s official sister-city relationship with Beit Shemesh, Israel, in an effort to further the mutual social, cultural, and economic goals of both entities.
Montgomery County’s longstanding base of leading international companies includes Otsuka America Pharmaceuticals of Japan, German-based Qiagen and United Kingdom based Astra-Zeneca/MedImmune. More recently, international companies including Hesperion of Switzerland and Xceleron and Levelheaded of the U.K. have opened offices in Montgomery County.
The County plans another international business development mission to China in 2008.
Media Contact: Corinne Rothblum 240-777-2011, Kristina Ellis 240-777-2024