SPG Media, a UK-based publishing company listed on the London Stock Exchange, which has a major presence on the internet, with a number of industry reference portals on diverse sectors ranging from packaging to hospital management, is organising a three-day 'European Outsourcing Forum India 2005' in Dubai, to bring Indian ITeS, BPO companies in touch with European companies looking to outsource work to low-cost locations.

The forum in Dubai this year is completely focused on Europe. About 35 to 40 buyers from several European countries are expected to attend. About a dozen Indian suppliers, including GECIS and Birla Soft, have already confirmed attendance.

According to SPG Media's Maninder Singh, "An outsourcing forum will be useful to a number of companies in India who wished to penetrate into Europe, where language may be a problem. For Europeans too, coming to India is a difficult proposition. A common meeting ground will benefit both buyers and suppliers in fields such as applications development, bill processing, data warehousing, HR services, IT development, IT services management, records management, and secretarial services," he said.

Singh adds, "We ensure that delegates who attend our Forum from European companies are senior level executives and, more importantly, can take purchase decisions. We invite only those people who are seriously interested in outsourcing to India."

Last year, SPG Media held a similar event called the European Financial Services Outsourcing Forum in Mumbai, targeting the financial sector. This time, the Dubai Forum's scope is broader and, apart from companies in the financial services sector, will include companies in the retail, telecom, airlines, logistics and supply management sectors.

"We expect at least 60 per cent of last year's participants to once more attend the Forum," says Singh. In addition, new companies from France, the Czech republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Switzerland and the UK will be attending the event, Singh says.

"SPG Media's role is one of an organiser: basically to fix the venue and organise meetings between buyers and suppliers. In a lighter vein Singh adds, "We call ourselves a dating agency and a speedy one at that. Our contractual obligation with our clients is to fix at least sixteen one-on-one meetings lasting 30 minutes each." To act as a facilitator, the company charges both suppliers and buyers a fee. While buyers are charged very nominally, suppliers are charged somewhat more.

The company organises around 12 forums a year, mostly in Europe. They include the European banking forum, the Leaf Forum for architects and another one for the broadcasting industry. The company is targeting revenues of about £25,000 from the upcoming Dubai forum. The forums division of the company contributes around £5 million in the UK, and is growing at the rate of 10 per cent annually.