Tanveer Patel, president and chairwoman of Birmingham-based CircleSource Inc., says preliminary discussions indicate the angel funds involved will range from as little as $50,000 to as much as $500,000 for a few select "high-end products."

"In the investment community, $250,000 is a lot of money in India, and we think the majority of opportunities available will fall into this range," Patel says. . . .

In a letter addressed to the president of India's National Association of Software and Service Companies seeking approval for the trip, Palmer writes: "We wish to identify India-based IT companies that are seeking modest funds to expand, who would each also consider establishing Alabama/USA-based headquarters operations and will retain development operations in India."

The idea, he says, is to reverse the capital flow typically associated with international trade and the stigma of outsourcing, in which Indian labor is used for American products or services.

"The plan is to have our angel investors find technologies they find promising, establish a U.S. headquarters, keep the development there, but bring the value back here as opposed to sending all the work overseas," he says.

Patel, who sits on both TechBirmingham's and AITA's boards, says it's a matter of matching talent and opportunity.

"In India you have no shortage of entrepreneurs who are designing products driven by innovative ideas, but their creativity is on the technology side. What they're lacking are business counterparts, and the U.S. has a wealth of creativity on the business side with a vision for developing most any product," she says. . . .