Winds of Change

Infocom Kolkata is the annual showcase event of IT in West Bengal, which started

as a project four years ago. Started amid much trepidation and some cynicism, it

is today a full-blown event that demonstrates that high quality creativity and

talent will always find a way to success. This December the fourth edition of

Infocom showed off a state, an industry and an event that has truly come of age

with hundreds of professionals, foreign guests, and clients and the

ever-enthusiastic West Bengal fourth estate making the inauguration an event to

remember for all of us who were there.

The surest sign of an idea whose time has come is the confidence

that pervades everybody who has been involved in the process-the original

Kolkata protagonist, Bikram Dasgupta-of PCL and Globsyn fame, the ever

confident Roopen Roy of Price Waterhouse Cooper and many other industry experts

are now being almost overshadowed by the confidence shown in every speech by IT

minister, Manabendra Mukherjee. And Buddha babu, the wise chief minister, can

today rattle off not just the names of all the significant CEOs and Bengal

managers of IT firms, but has his game plan on his fingertips. And, of course,

the very energetic brain behind the Infocom movement, Mr Purkayastha whose only

challenge is going to be to ensure that Infocom does not go the way of Bangalore

IT in with too much hype and not enough participation



.We need a vision like China, which envisages a thousand private universities
and a score of Harvard like Business campuses over the next few years

If Bengal has made it quietly to the list of new hot spots of

Indian IT, how are the other contenders faring? The Pune bandwagon continues to

be strong as was recently seen by the proud statements of Industries secretary,

Jairath in the annual city IT showcase 'Digital Maharashtra'. A well

promoted township that is Hinjewadi with many other blossoming areas all around

the city will ensure that the industry CEOs take the city seriously for their

second or third campus-and the speed at which global CEOs are waking up and

smelling the Pune coffee can only be good for the morale and business potential

for the builders who are today submerging the city with their housing

promotions. However, the old problems remain -poor roads, alarming arterial

traffic, and continuing power and water shortages-the city can acquire the

problems of Bangalore before it realizes the benefits if the Municipal

Corporation and the Electricity Board fall short of industry expectations.

The same concern is true for Hyderabad, Chennai, and Gurgaon,

and before the focus shifts to the new contenders -Chandigarh, Jaipur, Nagpur,

Coimbatore etc, such issues have to be addressed. And while we are all obsessed

with infrastructure today, another bomb that is waiting to explode is the

resources issue.A vision like that of China is needed where over a thousand

private universities and a score of Harvard like Business campuses are envisaged

over the next few years all over the country. Unless the Government hastens the

move towards permitting high quality educational institutions to flourish

through active Government-Industry and Private-Public partnerships, the growth

of every segment of the industry may well be pegged back in the not so distant

future.

But there are bright signs too-the enthusiasm of young Indians all over the

country and the support from every sector of the Government and academia for the

industry. Strong institutions like Nasscom, the re-emergence of the Venture

Capital community, and the ongoing competition between states will do much more

for the industry than we may imagine today. All our interactions-with the

State Governor, the CM, the IT minister, and of course the ever energetic

secretary Dr Gautama showed that a quiet revolution is surely in place in the

land of Sondesh and Rabindra Sangeet- and states and even countries who do not

wake up to the power of Bengal may be in for quite a surprise !