Currently the country has 460 foreign firms registered under its Malaysian Multimedia Development Corporation (MDC) programme of which around 20 are Indian firms. ``Though most of these investments are expected to be from Europe and the US, India is expected to be major player in the Malaysian IT market,'' he said. MDC is a multi-media corridor programme which aims to wire the country covering 50 km. Mr Moggie said besides IT, the MDC programme would also include building up new highways, international airport and university programmes to produce IT talent. During last year,India exported software worth Rs 82 crore to Malaysia and this year the figure was expected to touch Rs 120 crore, he said. As part of the IT initiatives, the MDC signed a memorandum of understanding with Nasscom, on Monday in Bangalore, in order to increase IT interactions between India and Malaysia.

As per the pact, both Nasscom and MDC would work towards building bridges with global technology centres which would eventually complement the growth and development of both the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) project of Malaysia and the Indian software industry, the minister said. Mr Moggie said, ``There are various synergies between both the countries to cooperate in the IT sector and this agreement was the first step in that direction.'' Later, speaking at a media briefing, Nasscom president Dewang Mehta said Indian software exports to Malaysia would go up to Rs 1,400 crore by 2007-08.