'Learn languages to tap EU mkt'

European Union presents India with a huge opportunity to tap the services sector there including the information and communication technology, but Indians need to overcome the language barrier, said a senior official on Thursday.

"Services sector in the EU gives us an added advantage, but it is not being fully exploited due to the language barrier as there are 25 different languages in the expanded Europe, with the UK being an exception," commerce secretary S N Menon said at a CII meeting in New Delhi.

He said as a first step to remove the problem, the government had initiated a language course for the entrepreneurs starting with German.

Besides, Chinese and Japanese have also been taken up, he said, adding the young entrepreneurs should increasingly make use of the expanded EU.

Menon said business process outsourcing from the European countries could be fully tapped only by learning their languages. India can target potential areas for business like pharma, biotechnology, nanotechnology and auto components, he added.

Emphasising on quality, he said India could compete with others only if we have products of international standards.He said the government was playing its part to help the industry for standardisation with testing, inspection and certification of products.

Instead of just concentrating on the traditional items of exports, Menon said at the CII-organised 'Doing Business with the EU' seminar that industry should look at more diversified products and services.