Though the global media took note of Indian IT only recently, thanks to Y2K, IT has deep roots in India going all the way back to the discovery of Zero. The government, academia, industry and its associations, and media have all played their role in this spectacular growth story.

On the government side, the Homi Bhabha Committee realized the need for focus in electronics and computers. On June 26, 1970 the DoE (Department of Electronics) came into being as a Scientific Ministry directly under the prime minister. The setting up of IITs and IIMs in 50s and 60s and the encouragement to the private sector to start technical colleges helped the growth of technical manpower. Public sector ECIL manufactured 12-bit (TDC 12) and 16-bit (TDC 16) computers in the late-70s and early 80s, with IBM shutting down operations in 1975, another public sector company CMC was set up to maintain computers (CMC had 923 computers comprising 60 models made by 34 manufacturers at one time!).

Recognizing the importance of software exports, SEEPZ (Santa-Cruz Electronics Export Processing Zone) was set up in Bombay in 1973. The Mini Computer Policy of 1978 opened up computer manufacture to private sector. The New Computer Policy of Nov 19, 1984 and the software policy of 1986 kick-started the Indian IT story.

Communications infrastructure improved with the setting up STPI hubs in Bangalore and other cities. The STPI policy removed the inspector raj from software companies; the bonus of corporate tax exemption and duty-free of hardware made the Indian software companies profitable; NICNET (1982 onwards) brought Internet to government offices; and ERNET (1986 onwards) brought Internet to educational and research institutes in India.

The 1999 IT task force led by prime minister (and several chief ministers at the State level), IT policy at every State, IT Ministry at the center and IT fairs brought right focus to the IT industry.

The Rangarajan Committee (1984) on Bank Computerization, chief vigilance commissioner Vittal's directive (1997) on full computerization of banks by March 31, 2005, Project IMPRESS (computerization of Railways Ticketing) started in 1986, e-Governance initiatives like e-Seva (single point delivery of citizen services) in 2002, Bhoomi (land records) in 2003, Electronic Voting Machines (500,000 machines serving 600 mn voters in 2004 general elections) and MCA 21 (ministry of Company Affairs) in 2005 are other key government initiatives that spurred the growth of Indian IT industry.

As for academia, IIT Kanpur got an IBM 1620 way back in 1963 and TIFR bought a CDC 3600 in 1965. TIFR was very much involved with the growth of IT in India. Professor R Narasimhan was heading the committee that recommended the setting up of DoE. IITs started computer science departments way back in 70s. IIM, IIT and TIFR were key players in the TDC story of ECIL. IIT Kanpur was home to Computer Society of India. Generations of students have learnt programming from the textbooks of Professor Rajaraman.

C-DAC helped in the development of Param Padma supercomputer that made its debut into the Super 500 list in 2003. Academic-turned entrepreneur Professor Vijay Chandru and his team designed Simputer, which became the New York Times Technologies of the Year in 2001.

The Malhotra-Kumar-Maheshwari Algorithm (1978) and the recent Manindra Agarwal's Primality Algorithm (2005) are major academic contributions to computer science from the Indian research community. Of course, the contribution of IITs, NITs and IIMs (and recently IIITs) is so important that one can state that IT is a subset of IIT & IIIT!

Special programs like MCA that was planned at IITs and launched in various universities in 80's helped the growing Indian software industry immensely. The indirect contribution to global IT by way of IIT alumni contributing to the global academic / research community and IT industry has been well-documented. In turn, it has helped in building the India brand and promoted entrepreneurship through organizations like TiE. It has also helped in alumni contributions back to IITs. The real impetus for global attention to Indian IT story is the contribution by the industry. In late 70's and early 80's, many pioneering companies were born. This includes DCM, HCL, ORG, NELCO, PCL, Wipro and Zenith that built mini-computers and later PCs. There were peripherals manufacturers too–Godrej (printers), L & T (printers), LIPI (Printers), Wipro (Printers, Terminals), TVS-E (Disk drives, Point-of-sale terminals, Printers, UPS, Tape Drives), VXL (Terminals) and the recent global leader Moser-Baer (CD/DVD). Many software companies took birth in 80's-Infosys, Mastek, Patni, Satyam, Softek, Tata Infotech and Wipro. Another interesting trend was the setting up of offshore development centers by MNCs. The 90's saw spectacular success of the Indian software industry. There were interesting products too–InstaPlan from Wipro, compilers from Softek, Tally accounting software from Tally Systems and Marshal from Ramco that had global customers; accounting software Tally and core banking product Flexcube from iFlex became market leaders in the local and global markets respectively. Infosys had its IPO in 1993 and listed in NASDAQ (the first Indian company) in 1999. There were all round entrepreneurial activities leading to companies like VisualSoft and Pramati Technologies. The software companies in India had outstanding achievements in quality levels. Motorola Bangalore center was the first in the world (along with Lorel Space center in USA) to achieve the SEI Level 5 level of quality. By 1999 six of the 12 SEI Level 5 companies in the world were Indian companies. The BPO industry grew enormously in the 90's with established players Infosys and Wipro entering the space. Serial-entrepreneur Ganesh founded CustomerAsset (now ICICIOneSource) and Nagajan-founded 24x7 Customer Service merit special attention. Software industry grew to $1 bn by 1995 and to $ 8+ bn by year 2000. The Indian IT industry employed 1.5 mn professionals.

Y2K proved a watershed event for the growth of the Indian software industry. Though many predicted that Indian software story will be finished by 2000 end, the story got more interesting in the past six years. Mindtree Consulting that was founded in 1999 grew into $100 mn within five years. 1999-born iFlex not only got its product Flexcube ranked global No 1 but also got acquired by Oracle for nearly $1 bn in 2005.

TCS (2002), Infosys (2003), Wipro (2004) and Satyam (2005) are billion dollar companies! TCS and Infosys have market capitalization of more than Rs 1 tn in 2006. Indian software industry has grown from $100 mn (1985), 200 mn (1990), 1 bn (1995), 8.4 bn (2000) to 35 bn (2006).

Recently, there are technology companies like Sasken, Ittiam (most preferred DSP algorithm company in the world) and ImpulseSoft (that unwired Apple iPod) that focus on technology, IP and standards.

The entry of MNCs with their offshore development centers started with Texas Instruments opening its center in Bangalore in 1986. 125 of the Fortune 500 companies are present in India today. This includes global IT services majors IBM, EDS, Accenture and Cap Gemini and others.

Among the media and associations, Computer Society of India was born in 1965 addressing the needs of the users of IT. MAIT (Manufacturers Association of IT) was set up in 1982 to address the needs of hardware industry. other associations include ISPAI and ISP. IT magazines including Dataquest, CIOL and Computers Today were launched in the 80's.

With IBM announcing $6 bn investment over 3 years; Microsoft, Cisco and EMC announcing $2 bn investment each; and SAP announcing $1 bn investment, the Indian IT industry is grabbing global headlines too. Azim Premji of Wipro, NR Narayana Murthy of Infosys and S Ramadorai (of TCS) are in the global list of leaders. "Getting Bangalored" and New Jersey State banning job migration to India are also in the news. Indian companies are acquiring global companies (Subex acquired Azure in UK) and global companies are acquiring Indian companies (Philips acquiring Ishoni Networks and Nokia acquiring Amber Networks for example). With VC funding expected to touch $2 bn, the Indian IT story continues to be exciting.

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