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25 and Going Strong

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DQI Bureau
New Update

These have been momentous years for the IT industry and also for Dataquest.

Lets take a trip down memory lane

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While Sunil Agarwal had been expecting an announcement on the New Computer

Policy, he was surprised by the alacrity of it. After all, it certainly wasnt

the best of times. Mrs Indira Gandhi had been murdered in cold blood and the

city of Delhi was witness to one of the worst cases of rioting (anti Sikh) in

modern times. It such turbulent times, precisely on November 19, 1984, the

government made the announcement public.

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Under the new policy, import duties for peripherals were reduced, foreign

equity participation was allowed, import of computers was liberalized and

software got recognition as a separate industry. In a flash of the wand, PM

Rajeev Gandhi unshackled the fledgling IT industry, just what the industry and

Agarwal had hoped for. For some time, there had been much talk about such a

policy, but Agarwal could hardly believe that Gandhi would do it so soon

considering it had just been a fortnight since he had taken over as the PM.

But now a greater task stood before him, to compile all the information and

spread the word within the IT community through Dataquest that had been launched

nearly a year back. All this had to be done in a hurry as the issue had to be

packed. Agarwal and his edit team got cracking, and over the next few days they

labored day in and day out, talking to the government officials, industry

captains and other analysts. Fortunately, the secretary of the Department of

Electronics (DoE), N Seshagiri seemed quite eager to share his views on the new

policy and over a period of two days gave an extensive interview.

Result: in the month of December, 1984, Dataquests cover had a picture of a

rising sun viewed from an open door, with the text, Doorway to the future,

Rationale of the New Computer Policy. The issue had the most intensive

coverage, over 40 pages, of the draft policy, and an exclusive interview with

Seshagiri. It was blood, toil and sweat for Agarwal and his team but it was

worth it. Unlike normal issues, we closed this issue in a short time frame and

the industry very much appreciated the coverage of this critical issue, he

recalls. Reportedly, Seshagiri used to share copies of Dataquest with industry

captains and others to make the implications of the new policy clear.

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In many ways, this event set the tone for Dataquest and its relationship with

the IT industry. There were many aspects to that rolethat of a chronicler, a

guardian angel, a guiding light and, at times, that of a naysayer. From the

first Dataquest edition that came out on a frosty December day in 1982 to the

edition you hold in your hands now, the commitment to be a credible source of

(and on) information for the Indian IT industry has never been reneged.

In fact, over the last 25 years, the bond has only deepened. One just has to

go through the archive and the bond will be evident. Dataquest has, at all the

times, raised issues and subjects that were pertinent to the evolution and

growth of the IT industry. Take the case of the New Computer Policy itself, just

a year later the magazine did a cover story, analyzing the gains made and the

opportunities that were frittered away. It was in 1985. Again in March 1994,

Dataquest spoke about the National Infotech Policy and ran a cover story on the

subject. The text on the cover read, Ten years after the New Computer Policy of

1984, there appears to be a need for a radical re-look at the industry. Will the

government oblige?

Way back in 1983, when the government duties were at their peak and computers

cost anything around Rs 3,00,000, Dataquest carried a story that spoke about how

the high prices were hurting the industry, and making a case for price cuts.

Out of every Rs 100 a buyer pays for a computer in India, Rs 42.5 goes to the

government. With the recent reduction in duties the buyer can expect to pay

less, the story ran. Then again, in May 1989, the magazine spoke about the

promise of Low-cost PCs in India, discussing the hows, the whys, and the whens.

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As the Indian software industry was evolving, Dataquest made it a point to

highlight the different issues that mattered to the industry. In fact in 1984,

before the New Computer Policy had been announced, Dataquest ran a Software

Export Special, talking about the pros and cons of going global and what it

entailed. Three years later, in 1987, the cover page of the magazine read Birth

of Indian Software Industries. And, after the Government of India had

liberalized the economy, the magazine ran a cover story on how the Indian

Software Industry was raring to go, in November 1993. The same issue had a

feature on how TCS was gaining strength on international shores.

Through the Thin as Well



Going through the Dataquest copies of the1990s, it becomes evident that the

industry was going through a lean phase. The first Gulf War had resulted in

global economic slowdown and its effect on Indian economy was quite severe. Even

the political conditions in India were very fluid. In those days, the IT

industry was very vulnerable to even small issues. Even a political disturbance

could offset the quarterly targets for the industry, recalls Pravir Ganguly,

who was the editor of Dataquest in the early nineties.

The May 1991 Dataquest issue seemed rather ominous, Is there a way out or

will the crises knock the Indian IT industry out? the story ran. If that wasnt

all, in December 1992, the cover of Dataquest had two words in big and bold:

Tough Times. With sluggish sales and restructuring, the priority for the IT

industry this year is survival. The focus in on margins not revenues. Strategic

business partnerships and software exports are in, and total solutions and

pushing boxes are out. Hardware companies are becoming system integrators and

offering more value to the user. All this is giving rise to a new industry, so

ran the story.

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The industry was also undergoing a leadership crisis, as different

associations like MAIT, CSI, and a newly launched Nasscom were trying to be the

voice of the industry. In fact, the August 1990, Dataquest carried a story on

the Crisis of Leadership as faced by the industry.

Around the same time, MNCs were also looking at India as an investment and

R&D opportunity. In October 1991, there was a story on MNCs: the second

coming. But the big story on March 1992 spoke about the Return of IBM.

By the end of the decade things had started to look up, thanks to things like

Y2K. In 1997, Dataquest spoke on the issue, Y2K: Indias Goldmine? The story

spoke of how it could be a big opportunity of worth $1 bn for Indian software

companies. With the dreaded date approaching fast, we are miles away from the

target, will we make it? it read. Even now, every year, Dataquest runs an issue

on packaged software industry, and nurturing it so as to speak.

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A Social Role



Yet, it hasnt been only the IT industry that Dataquest has spoken about. In

the early eighties, Dataquest had taken upon the issues of computer education

and how it was necessary that the youth took to computing. In 1986, the magazine

had a cover story on Growing on Computers. In June 1990, the magazine had

carried an assessment on how the Indian Railways was carrying out the

computerization process. The whole system of the railways was assessed and the

problems diagnosed from different angles.

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In the nineties, there also this issue raised about the use of electonic

voting machines (EVMs) in the elections. VP Singh was opposed to it, as he

thought it could be easily rigged. Dataquest carried a series of articles on

this subject talking about how and what these EVMs were.

Dataquest also spoke about issues that were not spoken about, like e-waste.

In October 2004, there was a special issue on Lethal Waste, highlighting how

developed countries were dumping their toxic electronic waste in India.

When the whole country was looking at the metros, Dataquest never forgot the

rural hinterland. In September 2004, Dataquest ran a story on how tech was going

rural. If that wasnt all, in February 2003, the magazine spoke about the

Talibanism in Technology. The story spoke on gender bias in the IT sector and

how there werent enough women in the industry.

Dataquest also talked about the famous Nigerian con, namely Nigerian 419. In

August 2003, there was a special story on the Nigerian con game, and it created

quite a hue and cry. And while every youth in India was looking at call centers

as agents, in 2003, Dataquest ran a story that read Why I Will Never Make A

Good Call Center Agent

In 2005, Dataquest had also run an extensive story on the murky e-Governance

scenario in India, touching upon the reasons why India was known as a graveyard

for e-Governance pilots. On the other hand, in 2006, there was a special story

on offshoring in India, charting the whole process from the time when GE decided

to open up a center in India, named Genesis. If that wasnt all, in 2007, the

magazine ran an extensive story on how Indias national animal, the tiger, was

close to extinction and how technology could be used for tiger conservation.

Big-ticket Specials



Yet, the biggest attractions of Dataquest still are the various annual

issues. In the very first year of its existence, Dataquest had carried out the

first salary survey for the computing industry. In 1984 came the DQ Top 10,

which later on transformed into DQ Top 20 that currently runs into 4 mammoth

issues annually. The magazine has also been toasting the success of the IT

Industry so, in January 1985, there was a cover story on 30 years of Indian

IT. Followed by 50 years of Indian IT in 2006. In fact, in February 1987, on

the occasion of Dataquests 50th issue, there was a special story on 50 issues

confronting the industry.

In 1993, Dataquest decided to start honoring the IT legends and star

performers through the Dataquest Awards, often dubbed as the Oscars of the IT

Industry. Recipients of these awards have been personalities like N Vittal,

Shiv Nadar, Narayana Murthy, Azim Premji, FC Kohli and others.

Among other Things



Today, keeping up with the times, Dataquest has regular sections on

Mobility, e-Governance, Storage, Green IT, Innovation, among others In the

bygone years the sections were quite interesting and educative as well. For

instance, in the eighties, every magazine used to have around 8-10 pages in blue

that were targeted at the student community and it was dubbed as Data Class.

The section used to have elementary articles on subjects like How PCs are built?

How microprocessors work? The story of transistors, etc. In these pages, one

could find crosswords, puzzles and even rhymes and limericks.

There were also light hearted pieces, in the early eighties, written under

the pseudonym IS Rakshit. He used to write pieces about how he was struggling

with the computer and how his company was grappling with one as well. Later on,

there used to be a section called as Data Jest which featured satirical pieces

on the IT industry.

It is also an interesting exercise to go through the Data News section in the

old magazines. For instance, in 1983, there were news that trade unions had

expressed shock at the bank computerization process, deeming it as a way to

layoff people. In the same issue, there was a talk of how Bangladesh was in the

process of formulating a strategy for overall computerization, earlier to India

in fact.

From the international shores, in another issue of 1983, there was a news of

how IBM had overtaken Apple in PC sales. In yet another issue, there was this

announcement about launch of laptop computers by Radio Shack. In those times,

going by the table shown in one of the magazine, there were 16 computer

companies in the Fortune 500 list and Microsoft wasnt one of them.

There was this news bit on Pranoy Roy, who in association with a software

company named Statart, had launched a handwriting emulation software package for

PCs in the nineties. Sometime in the nineties, even MF Hussain had written a

piece on Canvassing for computers. And, Bill Gates had written a contributory

piece in Dataquest on how the future would span from Microsofts perspective. In

all the anniversary issues, like the 50 years of Indian IT last year, all the

big wigs of Indian IT shared there vision for the future.

Gunning for Gold



The past 25 years have been momentous for the Indian IT industry as well as

for Dataquest. For instance, back in 1991, Dataquest had talked about the

devaluation of the Rupee and its implication on the IT industry. In those days,

RBI had depreciated the Rupee by around 8% and the conversion rate stood at Rs

25.95 to a single USD. In 2007, Dataquest ran a cover story on the Rising

Rupee talking about the other side of the appreciating currency.

When the magazine started in 1982-83, the computer industry revenues were a

little under Rs100 crore, in 2007 it was worth more than Rs 226,879 crore.

Meanwhile, the first issue of Dataquest was worth Rs 8; its now at Rs 25, not

quite matching up with the growth of the IT industry. Thus, in many ways,

Dataquest has not only been a conscience keeper but also democratized the

industry so as to say. Thus, if there is one thing that you as a reader can be

sure of, it is that Dataquest will only live up to its pledge to the IT

industry, long into the future.

Shashwat DC



shashwatc@cybermedia.co.in

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