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What, according to you, are the three most important steps that you want from the new government that would help the cause of IT in India?

• Extend the STPI scheme so that smaller companies can benefit from this in the current environment.
• Make sure of the speed of decision making of government and clarify pending issuesfor example, taxation of SEZs.
• Invest in building up the supply by improving higher educationgovernment can open education sector as it did with the industry in 1991.

When it comes to IT, what are the most important tasks before the government?

Alok Ohrie, president, India & SAARC, EMC

• Acceleration of deployment of telecom infrastructure such as broadband and Wimax
• Extension of STPI scheme and other sops to boost recession-hit exports industry
• Deployment of IT in all governance areas including citizen services, security and inter governmental functions

What, according to you,are the three most important steps that you want from the new government that would help the cause of IT in India?

• Deployment of IT in the citizen services area will improve transparency and efficiency in governance
• Encouraging IT oriented curriculum in our education system
• Formation of an IT Task Force, which could be an apex body for the IT industry comprising representatives from the IT Ministry, academia and industry. IT organizations could approach the Task Force for any issues/recommendations/assistance they might require. The Task Force would then provide recommendations based on these inputs. This would further the cause of IT in the country by enabling greater participation from both the industry and the government.

When it comes to IT, what are the most important tasks before the government?

Arun Jain, CEO & MD, Polaris

• Deployment of IT in all governance areas including citizen services, security and inter governmental functions
• Duty incentives for growing domestic IT market
• Extension of STPI scheme and other sops to boost recession-hit exports industry

What, according to you, are the three most important steps that you want from the new government that would help the cause of IT in India?
Current Tax structure is based on simultaneous schemes like STPI, SEZ, FreeTrade Zone, Export Processing Zone and New SEZs. This is complex and sometimes leads to ambiguous interpretations.

I would like to share just two suggestions:

• Flat Tax structure for domestic and exports
• Slab wise tax structure on Industry maturity

8% Tax rate for companies profits having over 1000 crore
12% for the companies having profits over 100 crore
8% for the companies having profits below 100 crore

When it comes to IT, what are the most important tasks before the government?

Ravi Venkatesan, chairman, Microsoft India

• Acceleration of deployment of telecom infrastructure such as broadband and Wimax
• Deployment of IT in all governance areas including citizen services, security and inter governmental functions
• Duty incentives for growing domestic IT market

What, according to you, are the three most important steps that you want from the new government that would help the cause of IT in India?

• The first one is building infrastructure, whether it is consistent power supply or broadband connectivity to schools, colleges, every village panchayat and the like. It is staggering to think that we are at less than 5 mn broadband connections todayand we generously define broadband that is anything above 56 Kbps. This has to change if we are to become an IT superpower in the real sense of the word. The IT industry is constrained by this problem of low connectivity, and if the government is thinking of an economic stimulus package, this would be a wise investment to make.
• The biggest potentialas well as needfor IT to bring about a transformation is in the field of education and skill building. Providing access to skills training at a very large scale, ensuring high quality training resulting in effective mastery of skills, a low cost delivery mechanism and affordable solutions and devices are key issues requiring deep engagement and attention. Low cost computing devices, broadband access and using services through the Internet cloud will be key in overcoming these challenges. A connected focus will be to have trained teachers to meet the target of 500 mn trained people. Making ICT the primary enabler for driving quality in education by creating ICT enabled class rooms in 500,000 secondary schools by 2012 and 1 mn elementary schools by 2015 will be key. A laptop for each teacher is a must to enable ICT to not only ensure quality in education but also make education IT enabled. National PC programs for adoption of IT for teachers, students, civil servants, defence forces, etc, should be supported by the government.
• The stated policy of the Government of India has consistently been one of technology neutrality and this has served the country well on its path to development by encouraging competition, choice and innovation. As technology evolves, innovation will lead to heterogeneous environments wherein different platforms will co-exist, and in this scenario, the country will be served well by focusing on interoperability.

When it comes to IT, what are the most important tasks before the government?

Rohit Kapoor, CEO, EXL

• Intervention in the education system to sustain Indias competitive advantage in talent supply
• Deployment of IT in all governance areas including citizen services, security and inter governmental functions
• Acceleration of deployment of telecom infrastructure such as broadband and Wimax

What, according to you, are the three most important steps that you want from the new government that would help the cause of IT in India?

• The government should build systems that would help in creating a pool of employable graduates. The recession is a temporary and passing phase of the economy. When the economy is back on the track, there will be a surge in the demand for talent. Therefore, a proactive, approach based on public-private partnership model, on this front would be useful in capitalizing on the opportunities in the future
• A lot has happened in the recent past in terms of infrastructure development including roads, public transportation, schools and colleges, telecom, power, etc, which is extremely important for a successful and smooth functioning of businesses. Nonetheless, we are still away from what can be called as a robust infrastructure, which would reduce some of the variable costs such as transportation and multiple power backup management cost. Further, most of the development activities have been limited to a few metro cities and their suburbs. The development should be extended to tier-2 cities because it would be helpful in bringing down other costs such as real estate costs. It would eventually help companies regain their competitiveness against emerging global locations
• Bringing about transparency and minimizing red tape in SEZ policy implementation. Red tape is the biggest inhibitor in companies setting up their facilities in SEZs

When it comes to IT, what are the most important tasks before the government?

Col Bedi, CMD, Tulip

• Acceleration of deployment of telecom infrastructure such as broadband and Wimax
• Intervention in education system to sustain Indias competitive advantage in talent supply
• Necessary policy steps to boost local IT manufacturing

What, according to you, are the three most important steps that you want from the new government that would help the cause of IT in India?

• Institutionalizing R&D with greater thrust towards product development
• Broadband penetration
• Incentivize organizations towards IT adoption

When it comes to IT, what are the most important tasks before the government?

Ganesh Natarajan, CEO, Zensar

• Extension of STPI scheme and other sops to boost recession-hit exports industry
• Intervention in education system to sustain Indias competitive advantage in talent supply
• Duty incentives for growing domestic IT market

What, according to you, are the three most important steps that you want from the new government that would help the cause of IT in India?

Governments in the past have so far played a stellar role through innovative policies that have spurred the growth of the industry through the nineties till it reached global dominance earlier this decade.

While some argue that the industry now has come of age and does not need policy support like the STPI Scheme to sustain and enhance its leadership, this is far from the truth. The biggest beneficiaries of the STPI scheme have been the small, and medium sized companies and if the STPI and Section 10 A benefits are withdrawn these small and medium scale industries will seize to exist. So the new government should most definitely look at an extension of the STPI scheme.

The new government should look at enhancing our education system if not revamping it completely and should focus on collaboration with the industry to develop a more robust education system right from the grassroots, as the time has come for a new breed of business education in our country which is aimed at building a new generation of business and technology analysts who can walk into organizations within the industry and start contributing from the first day they join the company.

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