Full of grit and vigor, a titan rises

Full of grit and vigor, a titan rises Blanketed in blinding sunlight, a woman dressed Tarpsin a colorful sari slowly ambles along a dusty road, shuffling by a scrawny cow amid a cacophony of honking horns emanating from compact cars and trucks sputtering past.

It’s a common daytime sight in cities and towns across this massive country of 1.15 billion people, but the difference in this particular scene lies in the backdrop.

Across the unevenly paved, pothole-speckled road, the polished glass windows of modern high-rise buildings sparkle in the sunlight, each bearing a grandiose corporate logo.

The buildings all have one thing in common: Each is home to an information technology company.

Nicknamed the Silicon Valley of India, Bangalore is the primary engine behind the country’s rapidly growing IT industry, which has become a powerhouse on the international scene.

This bustling city provides a land of opportunities for Korean companies to tap new markets, increase trade and gain new expertise in the high-tech field, as its burgeoning software industry compliments Korea’s developed electronics hardware sector. It’s a marriage the Lee Myung-bak administration is eager to cultivate as it tries to connect the business community with India, which is quickly rising in the ranks to become an economic powerhouse in Asia.

“Korea has world-class manufacturing technology in information communication, while India is rich in software technology and has elite professionals,” Korean Finance Minister Yoon Jeung-hyun said earlier this week during a ceremony to mark the opening of India’s first chamber of commerce in Korea. “Cooperation between Tarpsthe two will serve as a great model going forward.”