1966-1975: Of Committees & Bodies

1966: The
Bhabha Committee report was submitted and all its recommendations were accepted
leading to the setting up of the Department of Electronics (DoE) and Electronics
Commission subsequently.

• The Electronics Committee was set up under Vikram Sarabhai
  to advise the government on implementation matters.

• Commercial computer installations touch 30.

• Hinditron Systems launched by Hemant Sonawala in Bombay.

1967: ECIL
set up in Hyderabad with Dr AS Rao as the Founding MD.

• 10 Honeywell computers installed at the Department of
  Statistics, Cabinet Secretariat.

• Computing starts in IIT-Bombay with the arrival of the Minsk
  II computer. Prof JR Isaac spearheaded the initial efforts in setting up the
  Computer Center assisted by five faculty members.

1968: The
National Conference on Electronics convened by the Electronics Committee wherein
Vikram Sarabhai suggests the formation of a National Informatics Organization.

• Tata Group buys a mainframe for doing the data processing
  work for its group companies and starts seeking external customers for
  time-sharing. The division, called TCS, headed by a reputed engineer PM
  Agarwala and upon his death, a young power engineer by the name Fakir Chand
  Kohli is made the GM.

1969: IBM
1401 installed at Planning Commission under a grant from Ford Foundation.

• Number of computers installed in India crosses 100.

1970:
The Department of Electronics (DoE) set up on June 26 by PM Indira Gandhi
in Delhi, with Prof MGK Menon as the Secretary of the Department.

• National Conference of Electronics held in March to survey the status of
  the electronics industry since the publication of the Bhabha Report.

1971:
Electronics Commission constituted in February in Bombay under the
Chairmanship of Prof MGK Menon.

• The Information, Planning and Analysis Group (IPAG) of the
  Electronics Commission constituted in October in Bombay, with Dr N Seshagiri
  as its Director.

• A young programmer, S Ramadorai, joins TCS.

• Operation Typhoon launched by IBM under Prem Shivdasani,
  leading to the complete development of URMs in India.

1972:
DoE sets up panel on Minicomputers to work out the demand for these machines
along with the required peripherals for the Fifth Plan.      

• DCM Data Products, the IT division of the DCM Group, becomes
  operational.

• Major Balasubrahmanian appointed as officer on
  special duty (computers) at the Electronics Commission.

• DEC is brought into India by Hinditron.

1973:
FERA regulations enacted by Indira Gandhi; it would ultimately cause the
fracas leading to IBM's exit from India.

1974:
IIT-Bombay acquires EC-1030, a Soviet-make computer with 3rd generation
LSI circuitry.

• TCS converts a Hospital Information System from Burroughs
  Medium Systems COBOL to Burroughs Small Systems COBOL on an ICL 1903 for a
  US client. India's software export industry is born.

1975: CMC
incorporated as Computer Maintenance Corporation Pvt Ltd with Dr Roddam
Narsimhan as its first chairman and Dr Prem Gupta as MD.

• Tandon Corporation, founded by Jugi Lal Tandon, produces
  magnetic recording heads for floppy disk drives.

• UNDP team visits Delhi in March to study the proposal of the
  DoE and Electronics Commission to set up a National Computer Center. UNDP
  agrees to fund the National Informatics Centre to the extent of $4.4 mn.