China and India, both expected to be the centers of growth in the next decade, are being encouraged to marry their software prowess and hardware capabilities by Indian Information Technology experts.

Chief Operating Officer of NIIT limited, P Rajendran, said that IT has driven economic growth in western countries in the last two decades and countries like India and China are expected to follow suit.

"Our opportunity for IT-led growth is now," Rajendran said. India, considered a giant in computer software and China, with its huge computer hardware capabilities, could cooperate to target the world market for mutual benefit, he said noting that Indian and Chinese companies could jointly penetrate the huge IT markets of Japan and South Korea.

NIIT was the first Indian IT company to set up operations in China in 1997 and to gain wholly owned foreign enterprise status in 2000. NIIT, which has opened up to 120 IT training centers in China through the franchise model so far hopes to expand this number to 150 by the end of the year.

"NIIT is getting ready for 150 education centers and moving into training executives for corporates," Rajendran said, explaining that the prospects for India-China cooperation in the IT sector included more and more Indian and Chinese companies seeking market opportunities in both countries in the next six months.