"HCL he yokoso!" is how visitors are greeted at an office of hcl Technologies in Noida, a dirty suburb of Delhi. The phrase means "Welcome to hcl" in Japanese, and the neat line of young Indian employees bow deeply to underline the point: hcl is ready to do business with Japan, the world's biggest computer-services market after America.rnThe welcome is falling on deaf ears, however, hcl, one of India's biggest computer-services firms, has been trying hard to win Japanese outsourcing contracts for a decade. Its Japan Business Unit in Noida employs 25 fluent Japanese speakers who cater to visiting Japanese businessmen and supervise training in Japanese language and culture for the firm's other employees. Around 250 software engineers are proficient enough in Japanese to converse with Japanese clients, albeit with laughably poor pronunciation. "They find it funny, but they appreciate our efforts," says Vineet Nayar, hcl's president.
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