The National Association of Software and Services Companies, the apex body for IT & ITES-BPO, will hold its twelfth annual summit from February 3 to February 6, 2004, in Mumbai.

Nasscom's annual event has been the most prestigious and successful hi-tech conference in India and Asia. The event  2004 will witness participation from leading global think tanks and chiefs of Fortune 1000 companies.

Nasscom 2004 will be India's first hi-tech conference to go beyond technology, says a media release.

Leading thinkers, analysts, bankers, politicians, bureaucrats from the United States, the United Kingdom and other European nations, and the Asia-Pacific region will debate the implications of the growth of hi-tech industry on the global economy.

The speakers will discuss the global economic scenario, the outlook for multi-lateral trade agreements, the immigration trends and their impact on skills-starved developed economies, the structural shifts in global economic growth due to offshore outsourcing, trends in global currency markets and the growing challenge of bridging the digital divide.

The key tracks at Nasscom 2004 will include:

• The billion-dollar club
• CEO conclave
• International analyst and think tank summit
• Security imperatives and global trade
• Customer speak (international CIOs)
• Indian ITES-BPO outlook
• Country forums
• Domestic market forum
• CIO roundtables

And the event will have some top speakers addressing the gathering. Those who will speak at Nasscom 2004 include:

• Dan Griswold, Cato Institute
• Faith Boettger, BITS
• Dave McCurdy, Electronics Industries Alliance
• Elliot Schwartz, Committee for Economic Development
• James Carafano, Heritage Foundation
• Steve Clemons, New America Foundation