President |CITLoB
Dear friends,
As we come to you with yet another issue, I cannot help but notice how the market for Indian language services has been changing since the past one month or so. For as long as I can remember, and which is pretty much since the beginning of the 90s, government spending on translations into Indian languages, especially on projects that were available in the public domain for translation companies, has been minimal.
I can safely say that all that seems to have changed with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology reportedly allocating a budget of 100 crore rupees to fund various translation projects. Although the allocation might have happened a while ago, the projects are beginning to role out only now. And the budget allocated is certainly a sizeable opportunity, which is over and above the already increasing demand for services in nearly all major Indian languages that is coming from sectors such as edutech, fintech, healthcare, e-commerce and more.
Opportunities there surely are, but there are problems too. There is a genuine lack of quality translators. Inability to scale on-demand is another issue and nearly every LSP is dipping into the same talent pool. Then, prices have also been restrictive from where the industry sees it, especially in case or large volumes, where customers find it difficult to see the RoI. We have a guest column on this topic in this month. However, there is only so much you can achieve through a column. At best, it is a beginning. What we need is for CITLoB members to come forward and start a dialogue about how we can redefine the supply chain.
Let us think, act, be counted and make the most of what is undoubtedly a defining time for our industry.
Take care and stay safe all of you. Happy reading and happy CITLoBing.
Sandeep Nulkar
President
CITLoB
