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The eleventh edition of Bangalore IT Biz, (earlier referred to as Bangalore
IT.Com and IT.In) was held on November 6, 2008 in Bangalore with Narender Modi,
chief minister of Gujarat, inaugurating the exhibition. While the department of
IT thought the event was a success, the whos who of the IT industry and two of
Bangalores star attractions N Narayana Murthy and Azim Premji were conspicuous
by their absence.
Mexico was the partner country for the event with a 50-delegate strong team.
While inaugurating the event BS Yeddyurappa, chief minster of Karnataka said,
The state government has committed Rs 1,800 crore for the development of
infrastructure in Bangalore, which has been a major hindrance for the easy
movement of IT human resources. Similarly, the state will also focus on
upgrading infrastructure facilities at other cities of the state. Upgrading the
facilities of existing airports at Mysore, Hubli, and Belgaum, and creating
airports in other cities such as Shimoga and Gulbarga are in the pipeline.
Katta Subramanya Naidu, Minister for IT & BT, Government of Karnataka said,
The IT policy is under revision with inputs from the Vision Panel. The growth
rate of the IT industry in Karnataka has grown from 17% last year to 28% this
year. The semiconductor policy was under review and the focus would be on
manufacturing solar PV cells required for the generation of solar energy.
The government also proposes to set up an Electronic Hardware Technology Park
near Bangalore International Airport at Devanahalli. The present government
since assuming power has cleared thirty-two IT projects involving an investment
of over Rs 3,600 crore. These projects are expected to generate about one
lakh jobs.
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| THE DIGNATORIES: (L-R) HE
Rogelio Granguillhome, Ambassador, Mexico Embassy in India; Katta Subramanya
Naidu, Minister for IT & BT, information, excise and BWSSB; Government of
Karnataka; BS Yeddyurappa, Chief Minister of Karnataka; Narendra Modi,Chief
Minister of Gujarat; Ananth Kumar, Member of Parliament; Manoranjan Kalia,
Minister for Industries & Commerce, Government of Punjab; Suresh Kumar S,
Minister for Law & Parliamentary Affairs and Urban Development, Government
of Karnataka at the launch of this years event |
Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, while inaugurating Bangalore IT.Bizs
Exhibition said, India can give to the world a kind of IT Nano. When Indians
can contribute 30% to the development of Microsoft Windows, give Hotmail to the
world, why cant we create a Yahoo! or a Google. India has the capacity to
deliver such end-to-end products and services to the entire mankind. Indian IT
and BPO industry has matured enough to start thinking of end-to-end products
instead of continuing the outsourced work. Ashok Kumar Manoli, principal
secretary, Department of IT, BT and S&T; Sudhakar Rao, chief secretary; and
Ananth Kumar, Member of Parliament also spoke at the inaugural ceremony.
The event featured 106 international and national speakers, 5,100 business
delegates, and 100 exhibitors. The event was sponsored by twenty-seven leading
IT companies including Infosys, Wipro, Microsoft, Siemens, Cisco, Dell, HP,
Texas, BSNL, and Intel. For the first time the event also had Yesss, a unique
initiative, where eleven start-ups presented their ideas, research and
technologies to investors, venture capitalists, angel investors and also
conducted business meetings. There were over ninety delegates who held business
meetings with these start-ups subsequently.
For the first time STPI IT Export Awards were integrated at the Bangalore IT.
Biz. Infosys Technologies and Wipro bagged the top honors for being the top two
major Indian IT companies. Bangalore IT.Biz also witnessed the ninth edition of
the Rural IT Quiz.
The Mexican delegation head Ricardo Alvarez, executive director,
International Promotion said, For Mexico, India is a very strategic country; in
fact our Presidents visit with a large efforts delegation reiterates the
relationship building between both the countries. This has proved very
beneficial and opened doors for Indo-Mexican ventures.
| Modi Speak |
| IT Industry Needs a Nano In
spite of the phenomenal growth, productivity of the Indian IT industry is
quite low. Even today, the average realization per employee of an Indian IT
company is 1/20th or lower, of global leaders like HP or Microsoft. Majority
of the revenue continues to come from low value addition jobs like manpower
provisioning and low-end support services. This appears to be a safe
alternative adopted by the Indian IT industry. The industry should come out
of this comfort zone and engage itself in creating value for the company,
and also adding value to the workforce.
Secondly, while there is strong need to continue creating employment
opportunities and take advantage of the cost arbitrage, the present model
has its own limitations and may not sustain forever. There is a limit to the
number of people a company can attract without attrition and then manage the
same amount of productivity. With the cost of Indian IT employees
increasing, we are facing stiff competition from China, the Philippines, and
countries of Europe.
This is where the need to shift gears arises. The industry has to
reinvent itself. It must focus on innovations. It must focus on systems
rather than being comfortable with services. It must invest in R&D. It must
develop sustainable products. While service may offer marginal advantage
over costs, the payoffs against the product development are huge. It is a
leap of faith which is going to give India a Nano car for Rs 1 lakh. This
has the potential to revolutionize the automobile industry and put India
among the best in the world.
With the abundant talent available to tap, when is it that we will come
out with a Nano of IT. |
Sudesh Prasad
sudeshp@cybermedia.co.in Page(s) 1
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