Delhi, India, February, 16, 2011- India, which was often simply associated with Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, curry and yoga, is charging ahead as a global software powerhouse. So, let's have a look at a new India, which has fostered its software industry as a national growth engine.
The Indian economy posted an average annual growth of nine percent for the past five years, catapulting the nation to become a new prop of the global economy in the 21st century. Armed with ample human and natural resources, India has been wielding great influence on the global economy and is called a nation of software. As of now, India is considered a nation with limitless potential in sectors of IT and green industries: India's IT industry has continued its high growth - even in the midst of the global financial crisis.
India's 1.2 billion strong population is the second largest in the world after China's. A nation's power is, as is often said, proportional to the number of its population. Proving that statement, India has successfully found favor with global companies. Numerous software companies have contracted out work to India, giving the nation another title "the world's software factory". Evidenced by the fact that over 400 of the Fortune 500 companies have had business ties with India, India's software power seems undisputable.
The Indian software industry, which takes care of tax returns, management of human resources and even the US government's accounting job through running call service centers, is jacking up work efficiency by pairing up with diverse industries such as mobile, aviation, shipment and banking industries.
Then, what helped transform India into a global software powerhouse How did India make these astonishing achievements under such poor circumstances with poor social infrastructure and a low level of informatization What caught the eye of global software giants.
First of all, India's pool of English-speaking workforces is the largest in the world. Armed with a large pool of English-speaking, high-quality human resources, India was more attractive to US and EU companies than Chinese companies, who are deemed as emerging heavyweights in the global M&A market. On top of that, global standards like global business practices and economic laws are well respected in India, because India, which was a colony of England, embraced the values of western democracy and capitalism earlier than other Asian nations. Thus, India's law system is rated as the closest to western law systems in Asia.
And, the Indian government's strong and continued policy support played a pivotal role. Since the mid 1980s, the Indian government, who discovered the software industry's limitless potential, started to recognize software as an industry in 1984 and went to great lengths to foster the software industry. In 1994, the Indian government revised the intellectual property law to clamp down on illegal piracy and completely waived income tax on revenues from exporting software. The Indian government also offered other various software-friendly policies. As a result, India's IT industry has taken off since 2003.
At the moment, universities in India produce around 150,000 software engineers every year. Private IT education centers such as Aptech also produce sizable IT talents annually. Elementary school students in India learn 19X19 tables and high school students learn computer languages. There is no doubt the Indian IT industry, whose high growth is attributable to the IT talent nurtured in India's systemic education environment and efficient processes, have a bright future ahead.
Software factory Bangalore
India's Bangalore is called an IT hub or a Mecca for the IT industry. This city has more IT talent (about 150,000) than Silicon Valley, and houses the branches of global software leaders such as TCS, Wipro and L&T Infotech. Also, there is a slew of SMEs that obtained the software sector's best honor "Capability Maturity Model (CMM) level 5". Reflecting India's remarkable development in the software sector, revenues from IT outsourcing jumped 10 fold over the past decade. Accordingly, Indian IT talents who were working in IT Mecca Silicon Valley are coming back to India. Bangalore, which raked in US$ 4 billion in IT outsourcing in 1998, has made a quantum leap, grossing US$ 20/22 billion annually, 35% of total Indian IT exports. Thus, Indian IT expats are returning to Bangalore, which is now being decked out with skyscrapers and all kinds of culture facilities. For your reference, it is estimated that tens of thousands of Indian IT talent have already returned to Bangalore after having worked abroad.
Of course, there are sweeteners to attract young IT blood from abroad. As India's IT sector grows rapidly, high-paying jobs for high-quality talent are growing in numbers and living standards are improving at a fast clip. In other words, there seems no good reason for young Indian talent to leave their nation for better jobs and a better life.
Above all, Bangalore is rapidly morphing into a state-of-the-art science city, making progress in all areas from transportation to education: there are many IT universities in Bangalore. Thus, Indian IT talent has no need to leave their nation in the search for better environments.
Curry's Rendezvous with Kimchi
India's software, which has successfully captivated the world with its charm, is expected to get closer to Korea. Korea, whose software industry is still in its infancy, has started to set its sights on the software industry with the smartphone craze and growing popularity of social networks and cloud computing. To take the software industry, as well as the entire industry, to new heights, Korea's cooperation with India is a must.
Korea is strong in infrastructure building and manufacturing, which is expected to help Korea break into the Indian market. India is keen on exporting IT human resources through reinforced human exchanges. Many believe that relations between Korea and India will be strengthened along the way to produce the best possible results. Korea, one of the world's IT powerhouses in mobile, the Internet and high-speed data communications networks, is home to global consumer goods titans such as Samsung and LG, which are household names in India. If Korea's production of hardware parts merge with India's advanced software technology to produce embedded software products, a great deal of synergy will be created. The time lag between the development of digital products and services and commercial launches will be slashed and costs will be reduced.
As aforementioned, India has a huge pool of IT talent packed with excellent software development capabilities. The number of India's workforce engaged in the embedded software industry is greater than the total population of Korea. Therefore, Korea's cooperation with India is nothing but a great opportunity. India's software technology is very charming for Korea's industrial development. The majority of industry insiders believe that Korean companies need to improve their management ability to respond to risks stemming from globalization and disorderly management systems filled with many different cultures. In addition, Korean companies have to press on with software development projects under the auspice of the Korean government to achieve sustainable growth in the global market. And they should make swift moves to join forces with India in order to secure global software development capabilities. It is urgent for Korean companies to pursue systemic cooperation with India in areas of outsourcing, strategies and M&As.
