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Urgent steps must to make India an IT power, says Narayana Murthy

Political leadership, bureaucracy, academia and the corporate world in India have to take many urgent initiatives to make the country a leading IT power, N R Narayana Murthy, chairman and CEO of Infosys Technologies said in London.

"We have received global acclaim in the software field. But to fulfil the dream of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and accomplish the vision of Jawaharlal Nehru, we have to use IT ourselves and demonstrate that it has helped the people," Murthy said.

Delivering the 23rd Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial lecture on Hi-tech Enterprises: Temples of Modern India', he said that India was currently being described as an IT superpower.

"That is a bad thing and I personally detest such a thing," he said at lecture held at the School of Oriental and African studies.

Describing Nehru as a colossus, Murthy said the influence of the architect of modern India permeated every strand of developmental thought since independence.

"History of modern India is laced with initiatives he launched. Nehru realised that in order to build a modern India, poverty had to be eradicated and that could be achieved only through creation of more employment opportunities."

"Vajpayee's dream of making India a significant contributor of knowledge would not have been possible but for the vision of Nehru," Murthy said.

The IITs and IIMs started by Nehru have emerged as the leading educational institutions in the country, Murthy said, adding that 75 per cent of IT professionals in Silicon valley came from these institutes.

The Infosys chief said highly competitive global markets had helped the Indian IT industry to compete with the best and improve quality, productivity and cost.

"In fact, India has served well and invested enough but did not improve productivity," he said.

He said India's advantages were the large pool of English speaking professionals, technical talent, project management skills, industry-friendly policies of the government, lower cost and longer working hours.

Calling for transparency in large contracts, in policy formulation and key decision-making, Murthy suggested tariff for voice communications, data and internet would have to be reduced to global levels as a percentage of disposable income.

"Abundant, cost-effective data communication facility is the key for software and IT-enabled exports," he said and added telephone density has to improve to enhance Internet access and pricing has to be linked to disposable income.

Regretting that India has not produced a single world-class brand, he said it required focus, quality, promotion, money and initiative.

On whether India needed hi-tech enterprise, Murthy said that more than anyone, it was the poor in the country who needed e-governance for it meant inexpensive, efficient, quick and corruption-free public services.

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