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Indian IT industry set to ride fourth wave

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CIOL Bureau
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NEW DELHI: The Indian IT industry is set to enter the fourth wave in which in the next decade or two, companies like Google and Microsoft will come out of India.

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According to Symphony Services India president Dr Ajay Kela, the model that will emerge would be where software companies are given birth in India and offshore marketing and sales to the US. And that is the opportunity that is available for the next decade or two in India.

Speaking at the Nasscom Emerging Companies Forum, Kela said, "The next thing we will see is software product companies emerging out of India. We have been seeing that but the ecosystem for product development has been missing in India, but it is growing now."

He added, "The key things required for the right ecosystem includes entrepreneurs and lots of entrepreneurship is alive today. In fact, in the entrepreneur network of which I am a part in Bangalore, there are around 550 companies looking for funding today. A lot of VCs are also coming to India. Currently they are focused on mid- to high-end, not so much on early stage but that too is getting a push. The third thing is the market. The markets will still exist in the US and Europe but there are some sectors - like the telecom and financial sectors - where the market exists in India as well. The early stage companies can get feedback to build their product set that will sell globally."

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But for India to ride successfully on the fourth wave, the Indian IT industry and engineers need to focus on three things: First, domain knowledge. The second is focus on innovation, as the culture around innovation does not exist in India today. The third is around people and its key is to treat employees like crown jewels.

Kela said, "Events like the dotcom bust and Y2K gave visibility to India. The market dynamics have changed dramatically. More and more work at the lower end of the chain will move to more efficient location and India now has the opportunity to move up the value chain."

He added, "Indian IT companies may not have all the expertise but they can partner with other organizations to fill gaps in order to provide end to end solutions. Most of the companies demand for that nowadays as they want to deal with single identity. As companies move up the value chain and capture this market, Indian IT industry has the highest chance to win this market as compared to any other country. Lot of other countries offer similar cost advantage, but they do not offer the expertise and the background and India will be able to capture that if it focuses on that."

Kela also cautioned that the path to success is not without threats. He said, "A lot of talent exists in India, but what is missing is for creating the Googles and Microsofts of the world is the experience base. We don?t have enough experience building products and then selling them into the market. This will come from what we are doing in the third wave and as the emerging companies are emerging in the fourth wave already. India is also a viable and emerging market and companies should also concentrate on tapping it further."

© CyberMedia News

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