1976-1985: The Big Blue Impact

1976: The
youngest head in DCM DP's history, Shiv Nadar quits and with six other friends
starts Microcomp with a capital base of Rs 1.75 lakh. The company is
rechristened Hindustan Computer Ltd and history is made.

• TB Finn moves in as GM of IBM India and within four months
  lays off one-third of the existing workforce. Obviously, IBM had already
  made up its mind to exit India.

1977:
National Informatics Center set up with UNDP assistance, Dr N Seshagiri
is director general.

1978: IBM
exits from India on June 1, as it could not agree with FERA regulations.
According to many, the first era of Indian IT history comes to an end.

• ICL agrees to dilute its foreign equity to 40% under FERA
  and becomes ICIM.

• Following IBM's exit, CMC takes up maintenance of 800 IBM
  installations across the country. The rest of IBM's business passes on to
  IDM.

1979: Nelco
ventures into programmable desk calculators, Nelco 80-2.

1980:
Azim Premji makes Wipro enter into IT with India's first computers.

• Prem Shivdasani becomes MD of DCM DP. During his tenure the
  company becomes India's no 1 IT player.

• Raj Saraf launches Zenith Computers. Zenith later was the
  first to launch home PC for Indian consumers

1981:
NR Narayana Murthy, a software professional working with Patni Computer
Systems in Bombay, launches a data center called Infosys in a Pune garage with
six friends for Rs 10,000

• Rajendra Pawar, Vijay Thadani and S Rajendran start NIIT
  from humble beginnings in Safdarjung; it later becomes synonymous with
  computer training in the country.

1982: India's
first IT publication, Dataquest is launched by Pradeep Gupta in December.
Publishing history is made in Indian media.

• Intelligence Bureau selects HCL and ICIM to install special
  systems at the Delhi and Bombay airports.

• National Supercomputing facility set up at IISc by Prof V
  Rajaraman.

1983:
Dy Governor of RBI appointed as the Chairman of the Rangarajan Committee, formed
to advise the government on the computerization roadmap for nationalized banks.
Though an agreement is signed between the employees union and the bank
management, the National Organization of Banks expresses shock over the
decision.

• DCM DP gives India its first multi-lingual word processing
  system, Thiruvallur in Tamil.

• Indonet, the country's first communication network is
  announced.

• The country's first microprocessor control system from
  Philips installed in Calcutta to manage its downtown traffic in the BBD
  Bag-Esplanade East Government Pace-Writers Building area.

• India's first computerized coronary care unit for
  automatic monitoring of heart attack patients set up at the Lohia Hospital
  in Delhi.

• Government launches Project INTERACT (International
  Education & Research for Applications of Computer Technology) through
  CMC with UN assistance; three sub-projects include Computerized Power
  Systems Management (CPSM), Railway Freight Operations Management and
  Computerized Image Processing Systems.

• St Columba's School, New Delhi becomes the country's
  first school to acquire a computer in 1981-the HCL System 2.

1984: New
Computer Policy announced on November 19, days after Rajiv Gandhi assumes power.
For the first time, IT industry is accorded a special position. Among other
things: import duties for peripherals reduced, foreign equity participation was
allowed, import of computers was liberalized and software got recognition as a
separate industry.

• NICNET, a national network connecting the Center with the
  states is announced. Undertaken by NIC, it planned to connect various
  centers by INSAT.

• Government launches the CLASS (Computer Literacy and Studies
  in Schools) project with much fanfare.

• Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh declares "Anti Computer
  Year" in protest against bank computerization proposal. March 1
  observed as Anti-Computer Day.

• Courageous Journalism: Dataquest reports that the
  much-acclaimed tie-up between Bombay's Tej Computers, Apple and IBM is a
  farce, creating a sensation.

• Ashok Soota takes over as President of the Rs 7 crore Wipro
  Infotech. When he leaves in 1999, it is a Rs 1,000 crore giant.

• Atul Nishar starts Aptech Computer Education.

• Indira Gandhi invites Sam Pitroda from the US to set up the
  Center for Development of Telematics (C-DOT).

1985:
Rangarajan Committee Report on bank computerization is released.
Stage I is to cover 2,500 branches and Stage II, 6,000 branches.

• CMC helps RBI procure 100 minis from foreign vendors and 400
  from indigenous sources.

• South Eastern Railway in Calcutta becomes the first in the
  country to have a computerized reservation facility for all long distance
  passengers with computer installed by DCM Data Products.

• Computer Point, India's first computer supermarket comes
  up in Bombay.

• Unix hits the country and most vendors come out with their
  own versions of the OS.

• CMC launches Lipi, its multilingual wordprocessor.