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Veer Sagar, an old-timer in the IT industry, has over 38 years of experience in the Indian IT space. He led DCM Data Systems from the late 80s to the mid-90s. Today, he manages the affairs of his own medical transcription company, Selectronics, and doubles as the CEO of TCG Software Services (India). Dataquest met with Sagar to find out what attracted him to the MT business. Excerpts:

l What is the status of the MT industry in India?
I think that the worst is over and the industry is getting its a second chance. The quick buck makers have fled the scene and today we have serious players in the fray. And a majority of them are doing well.

l What is the potential of the MT business?
Huge. The potential of this business is estimated at about $6-10 billion. We feel that of this huge potential, currently 50% is being done in-house and the balance 50% is being outsourced. But outsourcing is still done locally and has not taken the form of call centers or BPO. Typically the outsourcers are the Mon and Pop outfits and these cannot scale beyond a certain point. And India is poised to become a major player in this segment.

l What has been your experience in this industry, given that you had to start afresh?
It was an uphill battle. In the first wave, we suffered from the lack of cash as no VC or bank was ready to fund the MT business as it got caught between the dot com and the call center waves. Luckily our team believed in the potential of the MT business and has hung in. there We focused on quality and are perhaps one of the few ISO 9002 companies in the world. We also had to work on the technology front to create an ability to handle clinics that did not want to invest in IT hardware especially for transcription.

l Has the ITeS/BPO wave effected the MT business in terms of finding adequate number of people?
Yes. Given the high profile status accorded to the call center business, we do find it difficult to find people wanting to join MT. I guess the perception is that MT is a boring option while working for call centers is very exciting. I think that once people start seeing the stability in MT, there will be enough people available.

Yograj Varma