Nasscom doesn't address issues of Indian software products industry, feels iSpirt

The real intention behind forming a separate body despite the existence of Nasscom was announced at a press conference today, Bharat Goenka, MD, Tally. With iSpirt, they want the nuances of this industry to be understood by policy makers, the public and within the industry. Nasscom as a software industry body addresses concerns at a large level, and some of its sub-industries' needs are compromised as it can take up only the larger concerns, as in any large industry. While the software industry has been facing challenges since 2008, Goenka feels that Nasscom is understandably under pressure to address the larger challenges in the software industry.

"The software product industry doesn't impact the economy directly like the software services industry, and hence, it is inevitable that 100% weightege goes to services. Software products industry, which falls under the large umbrella of software is compromised, though not intentionally. It would be unfair to blame Nasscom as they have to address larger issues of the software industry; we cannot burden them with software product issues as well. Forming iSpirt is only a recognition of reality - the need to bring a sharper focus on the software products," Goenka disclosed. Over 50% of the founders of iSpirt are existing members of Nasscom and they feel that this would not create conflict, but bring better alignment of policy as they would get a bigger picture.

iSpirt intends to remove the road blocks of they collectively face and want to guide each other in growth. One of the main areas where iSpirt seeks change is in policies.. To be more precise, in double taxation of service tax and VAT. Here, they aim address the issue and make an impact on the industry, not just a minor policy change. "We want to establish the relevance of the software product industry in front of policy makers so that they are open to policy intervention. Secondly, there are many Indian software product companies that have made it on their own but are collapsing under their own weight and some can't reach out to other geographical areas, particularly in the SMB space. -that's why the iSMB program. The third goal is to rally industry members with each other so that we can formalize the frame and learn from each other. Not every one is competing directly here, and it would do more harm if you are learning from a different industry," Goenka stated at the conference.

Research firm Forrester recently cited reasons why iSpirt may not make it big. Manish Bahl, vice president and country manager for Forrester India criticized the lack of government recognition and a clear leadership, to which Goenka replied, "It's barely five days since we started- it is too early to make a prediction and we don't know why the comment was made. However, it forces us to move out of our complacency."