A senior functionary of Frankfurt's economic development agency feels the green card scheme initiated by the German government to attract foreign IT professionals is not well suited for Indian experts.

"The assumption that Germany is very attractive for top IT experts from India is probably not very realistic," Mr Hartmut Schwesinger, the executive director of the agency, said. Mr Schwesinger visited a number of Indian cities last month to explain the German green card system and invite Indian software companies to set up base in his Germany, particularly Frankfurt.

He was in Chennai, Bangalore and Mumbai, along with Mr Hans-Peter Griesheimer, director, Frankfurt Labour Office, and Mr Harald Fiedler, chairman, Frankfurt chapter, German Trade Unions' Federation.

The delegation organised three major seminars with the participation of about 250 representatives of Indian software companies and held seven rounds of discussions with firms that were targeted for moving to Frankfurt.

"The country in which Indian software specialists are most interested is the United States. Indian software specialists have friends there and like to emulate the example of their countrymen who have achieved a great deal of success there," Mr Schwesinger said.

The green card is a year-to-year labour permit, extendable up to a maximum of five years. This, the agency maintains, makes Indian software companies wary about the scheme.

"Our discussion partners in India told us that they had doubts whether there was any large-scale interest on the part of Indian software engineers in the German green card, Mr Schwesinger said, adding: "The green card is fully inadequate for attracting Indian specialists." During the India visit, the delegation also made a pitch for what is described as the "Frankfurt model," which the Frankfurt-based agency has been flaunting to Indian software companies for the past two-and-a-half years as an incentive to establish offices in Frankfurt.

There are already a dozen or so Indian companies that have opened offices in and around the Rhein-Main region, as the radius in an around Frankfurt is known.

Mr Schwesinger maintained that Indian software companies tend to operate with their "offshore development strategy." By opening an office in Frankfurt, they would be able to foray into the German market, while making it possible for local companies here to benefit from the presence of Indian IT experts on German soil, Mr Schwesinger added.

"This would benefit not only the big German companies with their independent IT sections, which can hire foreign IT experts, but also the smaller ones with limited resources," he said. Making another observation of his visit, Mr Schwesinger said: "Indian IT experts were telling us that they saw the green card program as a one-sided affair - developed from the perspective of the German side and disregarding the situation in India." Pointing towards another flaw in the scheme, he said an average software engineer in India has a general engineering background coupled with IT specialisation in a company. "Our insistence that green card candidates should have an information technology degree is viewed with consternation in India," he said.

Summing up his visit - the fourth of its kind to India - Mr Schwesinger revealed that the "most important result" of the visit was the offer from Tata Infotech to train German engineers for two years within its organisation.

IANS