The Hindu : Business : High PC prices, low Internet usage will be addressed, says Maran

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 09, 2005

Business

Business

High PC prices, low Internet usage will be addressed, says Maran

By Anand Parthasarathy

The Union Minister for Communications and Information Technology, Dayanidhi Maran, lighting the lamp along with the Maharashtra Chief Minister, Vilas Rao Deshmukh, at the India Leadership Forum Nasscom 2005 in Mumbai on Tuesday. The Chairman of Nasscom, Jerry Rao, and CEO of TCS, S. Ramadorai, look on. — Photo: Paul Noronha

MUMBAI, FEB. 8. The Central Government has decided to cut the vicious circle of high personal computer prices, consequent low PC usage and poor Internet penetration: In his inaugural address at the India Leadership Forum 2005 of the National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom), here today, the Union Minister for Communication and Information Technology, Dayanidhi Maran, announced that a working group representing all stake holders, will get to work immediately to address the problem.

"The convergence of information and communication is my personal dream", Mr. Maran said — but he was intensely aware that the benefits needed to percolate beyond the metros and tier-one towns to the people of the hinterland. "Our e-governance initiatives will ensure that 2 mega bits per second of broad band connectivity, will be available countrywide up to village block level."

While lauding the IT and IT-enabled services industry for generating $28.2 billion in business this fiscal year, Mr. Maran urged the assembled `head honchos' that many "minds of concealed potential remained to be tapped" — a remark that most understood to remind them that the industry's investment in R&D was a pathetic 1 per cent or less. On his part he admitted that "A re-look at the IT Act of 2000 was in order ... to mirror the dynamism of the sector and remove unnecessary constraints," something that has been troubling many Nasscom members ever since the Baazi.com CEO's brief arrest a few weeks ago.

In his opening remarks, the Nasscom Chairman, Jerry Rao, claimed that the IT sector had proved that "free trade works — and continued growth rates of 30 per cent or more were within our grasp." However, he stressed the need to reassure international clients of India's commitment to reliability, security and data protection. "The entire Indian industry is still only one sixth of IBM," he reminded.

`Short order cooks'

or chefs?

In his keynote speech, Infosys Chief Mentor, N. R. Narayana Murthy, quickly introduced a sense of realism that dispelled any attempt at self-congratulation. His earthy points included: India accesses only 15 per cent of the world's software market; the industry depends too much on the top five players, who generate 60 per cent of the revenue. "This is not healthy"; Our investment in brand equity is very low — less than 0.1 per cent of revenue — and this is not enough to establish India as a global brand; "We are predominantly cost arbitragers, not value players. The average Indian engineer has a productivity of around $80,000 compared to $250,000 of many global competitors"; and it is time to stop telling the world "We will do anything you want". The Maharashtra Chief Minister, Vilasrao Deshmukh, in his address, undertook to join hands with the Centre to remove many infrastructure bottlenecks, particularly centred around the airport, so that the state retains its competitive edge with IT players. "But don't forget Chennai", he quipped generously.

The annual Nasscom summit — the largest in its 16 years of existence — concludes ons Thursday.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Business

News Update

Stories in this Section