India’s information technology outsourcing companies have established global footprints that stretch from Saudi Arabia to San Diego in the US. Yet they have struggled to develop one of the most promising markets, just over the Himalaya mountains in neighbouring China.

So difficult a frontier is the Chinese market for India’s pioneering outsourcing groups that their leaders would sooner talk about the potential of Latin America than the world’s fastest growing large economy.

Yet some are still trying to make inroads, recognising the risks of shunning the lucrative opportunity presented by large, fast-growing Chinese companies. Tata Consultancy Services, India's largest IT outsourcing group, said yesterday that it planned to double its 1,100-strong workforce in China in the coming year.