Information technology in India 1

Information technology in IndiaThe Indian Information Technology industry accounts for a 5.19% of the country's GDP and export earnings as of2009, while providing employment to a significant number of its tertiary sector workforce. More than 2.5 millionpeople are employed in the sector either directly or indirectly, making it one of the biggest job creators in India and amainstay of the national economy. In 2010-11, annual revenues from IT-BPO sector is estimated to have grown overUS$76 billion compared to China with $35.76 billion and Philippines with $8.85 billion.[1] India's outsourcingindustry is expected to increase to US$225 billion by 2020. The most prominent IT hub is IT capital Bangalore. Theother emerging destinations are Chennai, Hyderabad, Trichy, Coimbatore, Kolkata, Pune, Mumbai, Ahmedabad,NCR and Kochi. Technically proficient immigrants from India sought jobs in the western world from the 1950sonwards as India's education system produced more engineers than its industry could absorb. India's growing staturein the Information Age enabled it to form close ties with both the United States of America and the European Union.However, the recent global financial crises has deeply impacted the Indian IT companies as well as globalcompanies. As a result hiring has dropped sharply and employees are looking at different sectors like the financialservice, telecommunications, and manufacturing industries, which have been growing phenomenally over the lastfew years.[2]

India's IT Services industry was born in Mumbai in 1967 with the establishment of Tata Group in partnership withBurroughs.[3] The first software export zone SEEPZ was set up here way back in 1973, the old avatar of the modernday IT park. More than 80 percent of the country's software exports happened out of SEEPZ, Mumbai in 80s.[4]

Each year India produces roughly 500,000 engineers in the country,[5] [6] out of them only 25% to 30% possessedboth technical competency and English language skills, although 12% of India's population can speak in English.[7]

India developed a number of outsourcing companies specializing in customer support via Internet or telephoneconnections. By 2009, India also has a total of 37,160,000 telephone lines in use,[8] a total of 506,040,000 mobilephone connections,[9] a total of 81,000,000 Internet users—comprising 7.0% of the country's population,[10] and7,570,000 people in the country have access to broadband Internet— making it the 12th largest country in the worldin terms of broadband Internet users.[11] Total fixed-line and wireless subscribers reached 543.20 million as ofNovember, 2009.[12]

Formative years (till 1991)The Indian Government acquired the EVS EM computers from the Soviet Union, which were used in largecompanies and research laboratories. In 1968 Tata Consultancy Services—established in SEEPZ, Mumbai[3] by theTata Group—were the country's largest software producers during the 1960s. As an outcome of the various policiesof Jawaharlal Nehru (office: 15 August 1947 – 27 May 1964) the economically beleaguered country was able tobuild a large scientific workforce, third in numbers only to that of the United States of America and the SovietUnion. On 18 August 1951 the minister of education Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, inaugurated the Indian Institute ofTechnology at Kharagpur in West Bengal. Possibly modeled after the Massachusetts Institute of Technology theseinstitutions were conceived by a 22 member committee of scholars and entrepreneurs under the chairmanship of N.R. Sarkar.Relaxed immigration laws in the United States of America (1965) attracted a number of skilled Indian professionalsaiming for research. By 1960 as many as 10,000 Indians were estimated to have settled in the US. By the 1980s anumber of engineers from India were seeking employment in other countries. In response, the Indian companiesrealigned wages to retain their experienced staff. In the Encyclopedia of India, Kamdar (2006) reports on the role ofIndian immigrants (1980 - early 1990s) in promoting technology-driven growth:

Information technology in India 2

The United States’ technological lead was driven in no small part by the brain power of brilliant immigrants, many of whom camefrom India. The inestimable contributions of thousands of highly trained Indian migrants in every area of American scientific andtechnological achievement culminated with the information technology revolution most associated with California’s Silicon Valleyin the 1980s and 1990s.[13]

The National Informatics Centre was established in March 1975. The inception of The Computer MaintenanceCompany (CMC) followed in October 1976. Between 1977-1980 the country's Information Technology companiesTata Infotech, Patni Computer Systems and Wipro had become visible. The 'microchip revolution' of the 1980s hadconvinced both Indira Gandhi and her successor Rajiv Gandhi that electronics and telecommunications were vital toIndia's growth and development. MTNL underwent technological improvements. Between 1986-1987, the Indiangovernment embarked upon the creation of three wide-area computer networking schemes: INDONET (intended toserve the IBM mainframes in India), NICNET (the network for India's National Informatics Centre), and theacademic research oriented Education and Research Network (ERNET).

1991–2001Regulated VSAT links became visible in 1985. Desai (2006) describes the steps taken to relax regulations on linkingin 1991:

In 1991 the Department of Electronics broke this impasse, creating a corporation called Software Technology Parks of India (STPI)that, being owned by the government, could provide VSAT communications without breaching its monopoly. STPI set up softwaretechnology parks in different cities, each of which provided satellite links to be used by firms; the local link was a wireless radiolink. In 1993 the government began to allow individual companies their own dedicated links, which allowed work done in India tobe transmitted abroad directly. Indian firms soon convinced their American customers that a satellite link was as reliable as a teamof programmers working in the clients’ office.

Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL) introduced Gateway Electronic Mail Service in 1991, the 64 kbit/s leasedline service in 1992, and commercial Internet access on a visible scale in 1992. Election results were displayed viaNational Informatics Centre's NICNET.The Indian economy underwent economic reforms in 1991, leading to a new era of globalization and internationaleconomic integration. Economic growth of over 6% annually was seen between 1993-2002. The economic reformswere driven in part by significant the internet usage in the country. The new administration under Atal BihariVajpayee—which placed the development of Information Technology among its top five priorities— formed theIndian National Task Force on Information Technology and Software Development.Wolcott & Goodman (2003) report on the role of the Indian National Task Force on Information Technology andSoftware Development:

Within 90 days of its establishment, the Task Force produced an extensive background report on the state of technology in Indiaand an IT Action Plan with 108 recommendations. The Task Force could act quickly because it built upon the experience andfrustrations of state governments, central government agencies, universities, and the software industry. Much of what it proposedwas also consistent with the thinking and recommendations of international bodies like the World Trade Organization (WTO),International Telecommunications Union (ITU), and World Bank. In addition, the Task Force incorporated the experiences ofSingapore and other nations, which implemented similar programs. It was less a task of invention than of sparking action on aconsensus that had already evolved within the networking community and government.

The New Telecommunications Policy, 1999 (NTP 1999) helped further liberalize India's telecommunicationssector. The Information Technology Act 2000 created legal procedures for electronic transactions and e-commerce.Throughout the 1990s, another wave of Indian professionals entered the United States. The number of Indian Americans reached 1.7 million by 2000. This immigration consisted largely of highly educated technologically proficient workers. Within the United States, Indians fared well in science, engineering, and management. Graduates from the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) became known for their technical skills. Thus GOI planned to

Information technology in India 3

established new Institutes specially for Information Technology to enhance this field. In 1998 India got the first ITinstitute name Indian Institute of Information Technology at Gwalior. The success of Information Technology inIndia not only had economic repercussions but also had far-reaching political consequences. India's reputation bothas a source and a destination for skilled workforce helped it improve its relations with a number of world economies.The relationship between economy and technology—valued in the western world—facilitated the growth of anentrepreneurial class of immigrant Indians, which further helped aid in promoting technology-driven growth.

2001–present

Infosys Media Centre in Electronic City,Bangalore.

Millenium Tower in Kolkata, Salt Lake Sector-5,a major IT hub in the city.

Tidel Park—one of the largest software parks inAsia—was set up on the July 4, 2000 in Chennai,to aid the growth of Information Technology in

Tamil Nadu.

India is now one of the biggest IT capitals in the modern world.The economic effect of the technologically inclined services sector inIndia—accounting for 40% of the country's GDP and 30% of exportearnings as of 2006, while employing only 25% of its workforce—issummarized by Sharma (2006):

Information technology in India 4

Cyber Towers at Hitech City in Hyderbad

Patni Knowledge Park, Airoli, Navi Mumbai

Cognizant's Delivery Center in Pune

The share of IT (mainly software) in total exports increased from 1 percent in 1990 to 18 percent in 2001. IT-enabled services suchas backoffice operations, remote maintenance, accounting, public call centers, medical transcription, insurance claims, and otherbulk processing are rapidly expanding. Indian companies such as HCL, TCS, Wipro, and Infosys may yet become household namesaround the world.

Today, Bangalore is known as the Silicon Valley of India and contributes 33% of Indian IT Exports. India's secondand third largest software companies are head-quartered in Bangalore, as are many of the global SEI-CMM Level 5Companies.Next to Bangalore Hyderabad plays an important role in IT. Lot of companies were developed in Hyderabad, in thelast few years.And Mumbai too has its share of IT companies that are India's first and largest, like TCS and well established likeReliance, Patni, LnT Infotech, i-Flex, WNS, Shine, Naukri, Jobspert etc. are head-quartered in Mumbai. and these ITand dot com companies are ruling the roost of Mumbai's relatively high octane industry of Information Technology.Such is the growth in investment and outsourcing, it was revealed that Cap Gemini will soon have more staff in Indiathan it does in its home market of France with 21,000 personnel+ in India.[14]

Information technology in India 5

On 25 June 2002 India and the European Union agreed to bilateral cooperation in the field of science andtechnology. A joint EU-India group of scholars was formed on 23 November 2001 to further promote joint researchand development. India holds observer status at CERN while a joint India-EU Software Education and DevelopmentCenter is due at Bangalore.

India's IT industry (USD bn)[15]

Particulars FY 2004 FY 2005 FY 2006 FY 2007 FY 2008

IT Services 10.4 13.5 17.8 23.5 31.0

- Exports 7.3 10.0 13.13 18.0 23.1

- Domestic 3.1 3.5 4.5 5.5 7.9

ITES-BPO 3.4 5.2 7.2 9.5 12.5

- Exports 3.1 4.6 6.3 8.4 10.9

- Domestic 0.3 0.6 0.9 1.1 1.6

Engineering services, R&D and Software products 2.9 3.9 5.3 6.5 8.6

- Exports 2.5 3.1 4.0 4.9 6.4

- Domestic 0.4 0.7 1.3 1.6 2.4

Hardware 5.0 5.9 7.0 8.5 12.0

- Exports 0.5 0.5 0.6 0.5 0.5

- Domestic 4.4 5.1 6.5 8.0 11.5

Total IT industry (including hardware) 21.6 28.4 37.4 48.0 64.

Health issues among Young labor forceEmployees in IT / ITES services undergo high stress in their work environment which raise serious concernsto workin this industry.[16] The corporate HR practices are another concern where one survey found TCS employees averageage is 29 years and the recruitment practices which contribute to the inexperienced work force in the industry.[17]

Corporate critics shortage of human resources but the analyst says 20 year old industry cannot have 6 yearexperienced labor force.[18] There have been raising concerns on violating employment laws by corporates and thereare harassment reported from companies like Wipro.[19]

Top Nine IT Hubs in India

Ranking City Description

1 Bangalore Popularly known as the capital of the Silicon Valley of India is currently leading in Information Technology Industries inIndia.

2 Chennai Famously known as "Gateway of South India", it is the second largest exporter of Software.[20]

3 Hyderabad Hyderabad which has good infrastructure and good government support is also a good technology base in India.

4 NCR The National Capital Region of India comprising Delhi, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Noida, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad arehaving ambitious projects and are trying to do every possible thing for this purpose.

5 Pune Pune, a major industrial point in India.

Information technology in India 6

6 Kolkata Kolkata is a major IT hub in eastern India. All major IT companies are present here. The city has tremendous potential forgrowth in this sector with upcoming areas like Rajarhat.

7 Mumbai Popularly known as the commercial, entertainment, financial capital of India, This is one city that has seen tremendousgrowth in IT and BPO industry, it recorded 63% growth in 2008.[21] TCS, Patni, LnT Infotech, I-Flex WNS and othercompanies are headquartered here.

8 Jaipur This rapidly growing industrial hub houses a lot of IT/ITES and BPO giants. Genpact, Connexions IT services, DeutscheBank and EXL BPO, Infosyss, Tech Mahindra, and Wipro are here. There are plans to build the largest IT SEZ in India byMahindra under the Mahindra World City.

9 Ahmedabad Fastest growing center of IT/IT-enabled services, BPO & KPO.

References[1] China steadily closing gap with India as top BPO destination (http:/ / economictimes. indiatimes. com/ news/ international-business/

China-steadily-closing-gap-with-India-as-top-BPO-destination/ articleshow/ 6912611. cms), XMG Global, June 2010.[2] "Economic Times (2010), ''Are IT jobs losing sparkle?''" (http:/ / economictimes. indiatimes. com/ news/ news-by-industry/ jobs/

Are-IT-jobs-losing-sparkle/ articleshow/ 6443498. cms). Economictimes.indiatimes.com. . Retrieved 2010-08-30.[3] "Special Economic Zones: Profits At Any Cost" (http:/ / www. doccentre. net/ Tod/ SEZs-Profits-At-Any-Cost. php). Doccentre.net. .

Retrieved 2010-07-22.[4] "Top 50 Emerging Global Outsourcing Cities" (http:/ / www. itida. gov. eg/ Documents/ Tholons_study. pdf). www.itida.gov.eg. . Retrieved

2010-07-22.[5] "India :: World's Second Largest English Speaking Country" (http:/ / www. newsweek. com/ id/ 32285). The Mythical Million. . Retrieved

2009-08-31.[6] "Engineers produced in India, China: It's the QUALITY, stupid!" (http:/ / www. edn. com/ blog/ 970000297/ post/ 300013030. html). The

Mythical Million. . Retrieved 2009-08-31.[7] "India :: World's Second Largest English Speaking Country" (http:/ / tesol-india. ac. in/ EnglishTeachingIndustry/ en/

india-worlds-second-largest-english-speaking-country). Tesol India. . Retrieved 2009-08-31.[8] CIA World Factbook: Rank Order - Telephones - main lines in use. (https:/ / www. cia. gov/ library/ publications/ the-world-factbook/

rankorder/ 2150rank. html)[9] CIA World Factbook: Rank Order - Telephones - mobile cellular. (https:/ / www. cia. gov/ library/ publications/ the-world-factbook/

rankorder/ 2151rank. html)[10] See The World Factbook: Internet users (https:/ / www. cia. gov/ library/ publications/ the-world-factbook/ rankorder/ 2153rank. html) and

Internet World Stats (http:/ / www. internetworldstats. com/ ).[11] World Broadband Statistics Report – Q4 2007 (http:/ / point-topic. com/ contentDownload/ dslanalysis/ world broadband statistics q407.

pdf).[12] Tripathy, Devidutta (2008-07-25). "Reuters (2008), ''India adds 8.94 mln mobile users in June''" (http:/ / uk. reuters. com/ article/

UK_SMALLCAPSRPT/ idUKDEL2193920080725). Uk.reuters.com. . Retrieved 2010-08-30.[13] Kamdar (2006)[14] "/ Technology - Capgemini in India milestone" (http:/ / www. ft. com/ cms/ s/ 0/ cca53ba8-c71b-11de-bb6f-00144feab49a.

html?ftcamp=rss& nclick_check=1). Ft.com. 2009-11-01. . Retrieved 2010-07-22.[15] http:/ / www. nasscom. in/ upload/ 5216/ IT%20Industry%20Factsheet-Aug%202008. pdf[16] "Features" (http:/ / economictimes. indiatimes. com/ bpo-brigade/ outsourcing-industry-faces-health-problems/ articleshow/ 2668934. cms).

The Times Of India. 2007-12-26. .[17] "Average age of a TCS employee" (http:/ / timesofindia. indiatimes. com/ tech/ itslideshow/ 6828801. cms). The Times Of India. .[18] http:/ / teck. in/ 500-tcs-employees-asked-to-leave-after-appraisal. html[19] http:/ / www. siliconindia. com/ shownews/ Sacked_Wipro_employee_alleges_harassment-nid-60537. html[20] http:/ / www. thehindubusinessline. com/ 2007/ 10/ 19/ stories/ 2007101951332300. htm[21] "Global Services - Mumbai, India" (http:/ / www. globalservicesmedia. com/ Destinations/ India/ Mumbai,-India/ 25/ 18/ 901/

general200910157557). Globalservicesmedia.com. 2009-10-15. . Retrieved 2010-07-22.

Information technology in India 7

Further reading• Alexander, Steve, E-Commerce. (2006: from Computers and Information Systems), Encyclopædia Britannica

2008.• Chand, Vikram K. (2006), Reinventing public service delivery in India: Selected Case Studies, Sage Publications,

ISBN 0-7619-3489-8.• Desai, Ashok V. (2006), "Information and other Technology Development", Encyclopedia of India (vol. 2) edited

by Stanley Wolpert, pp. 269–273, Thomson Gale, ISBN 0-684-31351-0.• Kamdar, Mira (2006), "Indo -U.S. Relations, Cultural Exchanges in", Encyclopedia of India (vol. 2) edited by

Stanley Wolpert, pp. 236–239, Thomson Gale, ISBN 0-684-31351-0.• Kapur, Devesh (2006), "Diaspora" in Encyclopedia of India (vol. 1) edited by Stanley Wolpert, pp. 328–331,

Thomson Gale, ISBN 0-684-31350-2.• Ketkar, Prafulla (2006), "European Union, Relations with (Science and technology)", Encyclopedia of India (vol.

2) edited by Stanley Wolpert, pp. 48–51, Thomson Gale, ISBN 0-684-31351-0.• Nanda, B. R. (2006), "Nehru, Jawaharlal", Encyclopedia of India (vol. 3) edited by Stanley Wolpert, pp. 222–227,

Thomson Gale, ISBN 0-684-31352-9.• Rothermund, Dietmar (2006), "Andhra Pradesh", Encyclopedia of India (vol. 1) edited by Stanley Wolpert,

pp. 43–44, Thomson Gale, ISBN 0-684-31350-2.• Sharma, Jagdish (2006), "Diaspora: History of and Global Distribution", Encyclopedia of India (vol. 1) edited by

Stanley Wolpert, pp. 331–336, Thomson Gale, ISBN 0-684-31350-2.• Sharma, Shalendra D. (2006), "Globalization", Encyclopedia of India (vol. 2) edited by Stanley Wolpert,

pp. 146–149, Thomson Gale, ISBN 0-684-31351-0• Vrat, Prem (2006), "Indian Institutes of Technology", Encyclopedia of India (vol. 2) edited by Stanley Wolpert,

pp. 229–231, Thomson Gale, ISBN 0-684-31351-0.• Wolcott, P. & Goodman, S. E. (2003), Global Diffusion of the Internet – I India: Is the Elephant Learning to

Dance? (http:/ / mosaic. unomaha. edu/ India_2003. pdf), Communications of the Association for InformationSystems, 11: 560-646.

External links• C-Change: India CIO Forum (http:/ / www. ciol. com/ cchange/ ), Annual Conference for Top 100 CIOs of India.• India's Top IT Companies 2007 (http:/ / www. dnb. co. in/ TopIT/ overview. asp), D&B Industry Research

Service.• Kanellos, Michael (2005), India's renaissance (http:/ / news. cnet. com/ Indias-renaissance-An-oral-history/

2009-1041_3-5757756. html), CNET News.com.• India’s Information Technology Industry (http:/ / www. indianembassy. org/ indiainfo/ india_it. htm), Indian

Embassy to the United States of America, Government of India.• India technology news (http:/ / www. thinkdigit. com/ )• Database of small-medium IT companies in India (http:/ / www. indianITcompanies. com/ resources. html),

Precision Consultants• Computer caste (http:/ / www. wimklerkx. nl/ EN/ PROJECTS/ IT. html) Photo documentary on social aspects of

IT revolution in India. By photographer Wim Klerkx, 2001/2002.

Article Sources and Contributors 8

Article Sources and ContributorsInformation technology in India  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=425835889  Contributors: A.arvind.arasu, After Midnight, Amitg27, Andvd, Arpanmehra, Arruri, Avoidsimple2, Chalamsoft, Chethancio, Debipilu, Dirtyharree, Dr. Blofeld, Edward, Fffff2222, Forty two, GoingBatty, Grvb16, JSR, Jaydeks, Jncraton, Jpbowen, Katieh5584, Kenny92190, Kkm010,Kubanczyk, Kuru, KuwarOnline, Lightmouse, Loveuearth, Lradrama, MER-C, Maheshkumaryadav, Mandarax, Martijn Hoekstra, MaximvsDecimvs, Mitpradeep, NerdyNSK, Nishkid64,Perfectionaintperfect, R'n'B, Race911, RayAYang, Rjwilmsi, Roland zh, Rosiestep, ScottMHoward, Selvamramesh, Shyamsunder, Someone65, SpacemanSpiff, Spidern, Sriks8, Thennarasu,Utcursch, WereSpielChequers, Winningindians, Wklerkx, Woohookitty, Zundark, 167 anonymous edits

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