Looking east Long before you get to China, the focus of many global economic debates, you get

to India. It's a place from which the west can learn much. And as a CIO, networking with your Indian peers could add a great deal of value both to the business, and to your personal and professional value. Why networking? he benefits of professional networking have long been established. Organisations build trust relationships because they help to create business opportunities and deepen e!isting ties with business partners and suppliers. "ut simply, people prefer to do business with people they know and like. #eeting your peers offers opportunities to help others, to give and receive advice and to build long$term relationships. One e!ample of networking's value is the number of e!ecutives who find themselves leading pro%ects as a result of contacts made at networking events. Why India? he &' and India share so much history( yes, that relationship is founded on a discredited colonial past but times have moved on. oday, India has e!perienced an upsurge in the numbers of )nglish language speakers. heir numbers are uncountable and uncounted but are generally agreed to be very large and growing, as people from all areas of India and from all social strata recognise the role of )nglish as a prere*uisite for personal advancement. )nglish doesn't have the official imprimatur of a national language, but real$ world usage makes it so. he ability to speak the tongue of commerce is core to why India has been so economically successful, and you don't have to look far to find e!amples of its desire to integrate itself into the wider world and the growing importance of its fast$e!panding economy. In +,,,, the ata -roup bought etley, the &' and Canada's largest tea company and the second largest in the &nited .tates. ata is now the world's second largest tea producer. .i! years later, ata .teel bought Anglo$/utch firm Corus -roup for 01.21 billion, making it the fifth largest steel company of the world. And in +,,3, ata bought the global car brands 4aguar and Land 5over for 06.61 billion from 7ord. India is also a ma%or driver of the world's technology business. India's technology sector is worth more than 08 billion and growing at over 6, percent annually. And a recent letter6 from the technology industry to the Indian government said9 :India has e!emplified the benefits of competition and regulatory reform as demonstrated by the tremendous growth in the telecommunications and I services sector over the past fifteen years:, and pointed out that India has shown it can compete on a global scale. It's not %ust call centres, with which we're familiar. India is also a place where serious research is taking place, producing new technologies and methodologies. An e!ample is #icrosoft 5esearch India. One of the company's
6 http9;;articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com;+,6+$,<$,=;news;86868,=3>6>pma$india$s$ wto$private$sector

si! research labs, it was established in 4anuary +,,1 and based in ?angalore. Benefits all round .o there are good reasons why you might consider networking with your Indian peers. As the economies of India and the &' become increasingly entangled, so the importance of contacts in and understanding of the region will grow. 7urther integration of the Indian economy with western trade is inevitable, and this will need strategically placed people, people capable of building and driving relationships, which is where CIO #atri! can help. CIO #atri! is launching a ma%or new networking event, the India&' CIO .trategics International .ummit, which is set to become the premier annual conference for hosting leading CIOs and senior IC e!ecutives from India and the &'. @e believe that CIO #atri! and in particular, the India&' CIO .trategics International .ummit could help you achieve your professional and personal goals, while adding value to your business and to the wider world's economy. If you'd like to know more, please don't hesitate to contact us. About CIO Matrix CIO #atri! provides a uni*ue approach to facilitating collaboration and information e!change between members of senior I management and decision makers across multiple industries. It constitutes a uni*ue offering9 a framework enabling international CIO communities to decide how best to leverage the CIO #atri! platform to achieve their individual and shared goals without undue influence from e!ternal parties or interests.