Canadian Industry Minister Allan Rock, participating in a media briefing along with Datamatics chairman Dr Lalit Kanodia, said he, on behalf of the Canadian prime minister and the government, appreciated the Indian IT company’s initiatives to open its facilities in Toronto. “We will extend all possible help to Datamatics in its business initiatives in Canada.”

Canada, the fastest growing nation among the G-7 group, also has the record of surplus budgets for seven years in a row. It is raring to fuel its economic growth with investments and participation in various infrastructure projects from among Indian entrepreneurs, Rock said.

Kanodia disclosed that Datamatics has already appointed merchant bankers to scout for acquisitions. The company has already identified four projects with revenues ranging from $5 million to $10 million for a probable acquisition in the near future.

Datamatics has drawn a four-pronged aggressive strategy for Canada: To compete as a Canadian company in Canada; To work in Canada for US companies in ‘near shore’ projects; To set up on onshore as well as offshore facilities; and To represent Canadian companies in India.

It is in this context that Datamatics has already begun representing Hummingbird, a global leader in documentation and workflow management, and Algorithmics of Canada in India. Kanodia is confident that Algorithmics, the No 1 risk management technology company in the world, will soon have a significant presence in the Indian financial sector.

He pointed out that Datamatics enjoys a unique record of being the only third company in the world to have been assessed for CMM as well as PCMM certifications. This, he said, will benefit it a lot in its Canada business initiatives.

Apart from the fact that Canada has easily the best access into the US markets due to its geographic proximity, the other advantages offered by Canada are its excellent infrastructure, the English and French language capabilities and, of course, lower costs as compared to the US.