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Where India scores over China

— Photo: By Special Arrangement

Syed Zakir Ahmed, CMD of Zak Trade Fairs & Exhibitions Pvt. Ltd., felicitates Infosys Chief Mentor N.R. Narayana Murthy and his wife, Sudha Murthy, in Singapore on Friday.

SINGAPORE: India still holds a lead over China in the software domain. However, China’s technical people “are extraordinarily competent and very hardworking,” Infosys Founder and Chief Mentor N.R. Narayana Murthy said at a special session of “Opportunity India” conclave here on Friday.

The event was part of the “Salaam India” celebrations, organised by the Chennai-based Zak Trade Fairs & Exhibitions Pvt. Ltd.

While responding to questions, Mr. Murthy, in a conversation with actor Madhavan, said a difference between India and China was that “at some levels, the ability to interact with the customers in English is still not as easy for the Chinese technical graduate as it is for the Indian graduates.”

“Indians have had at least a 15-to-20-year lead over the Chinese in large project management. That is, how to take a large task, split it into multiple sub-tasks, put them, assign resources, review them constantly, inform the customer about any problems, etc, etc. So, that is the second area where Indians have been ahead.”

Another critical area where “Indians have had a lead over China” related to intellectual property rights (IPR) in the IT software sector. “Today, the Western customers have a lot more confidence in the intellectual property rights protection in India rather than in China. It is simply that they have had a longer [association] with us.”

“There has not been a single violation of IPR in India of the kind that would raise the eyebrows of the major Western countries, About 300 out of 350 companies have worked with Indian companies. At one point of time, we had about $10-billion worth of telecom software in our offices. And, all of us have invested, literally $50 million to $100 million of technology in protection.”

Earlier, Zak Group Chairman and Managing Director Syed Zakir Ahmed presented an award to Mr. Murthy and his wife, Sudha Murthy, for being “an inspirational couple” in the corporate world and in social service.

Global Adjustments Founder and Chief Executive Officer Ranjini Manian also spoke.

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