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Follow UsAround this time last year, IT companies were looking down the barrel of a
loaded canon. Post the dotcom bust and 9/11, a deflated IT industry was to be
further rocked by an incessant stream of scandals. As though by prescience, last
year’s IT.com was shrouded in a pall of gloom. Last minute cancellations and a
jittery industry added to the despondent atmosphere. But its sequel,
BangaloreIT.com 2002, has made the IT world heave a collective sigh of relief.
It may not have been a throwback to the pre-downturn Y2K days, but the overall
sentiment was more like the official punch line for event–"There’s more
to the future!"
The five-day-long event managed to attract 264 companies this year. Of these,
230 had put up their stalls at the exhibition and 53 foreign companies
participated for the first time. There were 42 sponsors and while 16 countries
had their stalls, 13 Indian states too were present. "It was an improvement
on last year. This year, we received better participation in almost all areas as
compared to last year. The quality of business visitors also improved. The area
with lower performance was the number of general visitors who probably kept away
because of the rains," said state IT Minister DB Inamdar.
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The event has also witnessed growing disenchantment and lack of
representation of special interest IT groups in the last few years. In 1999 for
instance, one of the six pavilions was of Linux. That pavilion has disappeared
in the last few years, as has representation from special interest groups. On
the upside, the number of business visitors increased to around 50,000 including
300 foreign delegates. The event also had seven conferences. The two additions
were the BPO and the banking and finance seminars.
Life beyond services
In many ways, this year represented the industry’s continuing attempt to
find revenue streams outside traditional IT services. The two catch phrases at
this year’s conferences were–Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and looking
beyond IT services. These two themes were the underlying messages of most
conferences and India’s future as the back office of the world dominated
speeches. A growing superiority in infrastructure, the required educated
workforce and cost advantage against existing competitors were the BPO strengths
spoken of, along with the ability of the BPO segment to provide mass employment.
"By 2010, the employment potential in India will rise to 360,000 across all
states. The Millennium BPO policy by the Karnataka government will play a key
role in ensuring we reach that target," said Sharda Cherwoo, CEO of Ernst
& Young, Shared Services (India).
The options
Many at the conference also believed that if India Inc wanted to be reckoned
as a global player in IT, it would have to look at product development
seriously. "Indian players would have to seriously consider stepping into
the realm of product development. It’s a completely different ball game
compared to the kind of services that Indian players have been traditionally
delivering. It requires specialized skill sets including the ability to market
products internationally. In that sense, one does not see winning products
emerge from the IT services majors in India," said Dr Biswadip Mitra,
Managing Director, TI India.
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The IT Services segment however remained a key concern area. The industry is
going through what one speaker called the Red Queen phenomenon–companies are
running faster only to stay where they are, thanks to stiff competition and the
resultant undercutting of prices. "Smaller companies should develop
specific competencies in niche areas. Also, Indian SMEs should form a
consolidated global interface for mutual collaboration and ensure that global
customers do not take undue advantage of them on the pricing front," said
Rajeev Ratna Shah, Secretary to the Govt of India, Ministry of Communications
& IT in his keynote address at TiECON 2002.
Okay on the state front?
All the usual states also participated in the event though Tamil Nadu was
conspicuous by its absence because of its ongoing spat with Karnataka on the
Cauvery issue. Other than reaffirming their usual commitments to being investor
friendly for technology companies, the states also showcased their respective
initiatives in e-governance. Noteworthy among them were the initiatives by West
Bengal, Kerala, and Chandigarh.
Even though West Bengal’s share in the country’s software exports is only
3-4%, the state hopes to increase that to 15-20% by 2010. Kerala too announced
new measures including the setting up of a BPO Park and a BPO habitat center at
Kochi, where BPO related training will be provided. Chandigarh announced setting
up an Entrepreneur Development Center (EDC) in collaboration with STPI at the
proposed Chandigarh Tech Park. Despite this, there was a prevalent feeling that
the traditionally active e-governance states had nothing new to report. And the
likes of Orissa and MP, who had a large e-gov presence last year, were far more
subdued this time round.
All told, India’s largest and most talked about tech mela did better this
year than last, though with some mixed results.As one participant put it–the
question for next year is–should such events be better focused in the ends
they intend to achieve? Or should they continue to be a forum for different
companies to meet?
TV Mahalingam in Bangalore