'IT industry raised India's international image'

Bangalore: The emergence of the software industry in India heralded a new confidence, a new mindset and a new paradigm in the Indian business, says Infosys Chief Mentor N R Narayana Murthy.

In an article published in The Economic Times, he says that for the first time in the history of this country in 300 years, the country felt that it had arrived on the international business scene.

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He pointed out that the software industry has raised the international image of the country like no other sector. Wherever you go in the developed world, there is a new-found respect for India, thanks to the software industry.

India has gained reputation as the software development center of the world, much like China's reputation as the factory of the world.

Most of the top companies in this industry have followed the finest principles of corporate governance by running their companies with transparency and accountability. Many are listed on international exchanges like NASDAQ and NYSE, and embraced the changes on these exchanges as front runners and brought recognition to India.

During the nineties, a popular saying among the industry leaders was, "If you see a Mercedes Benz car in front of a house, you can be sure it belongs to the CEO of a failed traditional sector company; If you see a ramshackle ambassador in front of house, you can be sure it belongs to the CEO of a hugely successful software company". This sentence says a lot about the majority of the leaders in our industry.

The software industry has replaced the public sector as the largest creator of jobs. Today, TCS, Infosys and Wipro add more high quality, high disposable income jobs a year than any other company has done in the last hundred years. Such jobs have stimulated the economy in a significant manner.

Our youngsters buy vehicles, buy homes, go on vacation, shop in supermarkets and go to restaurants. When the industry is in top gear, which it has been for most of the last 15 years, there is joy on the main street, an air of confidence among shop owners, and a sense of pride among the families of the professionals. In other words, this industry has been the creator of a positive spiral in our economy.

"This industry has been the shining example of all the good that came out of liberalization and the economic reforms since 1991. As against just 8 percent of the Indian engineering industry output going to exports during the nineties, the contribution to exports from this industry has been between 80 percent and 90 percent of revenues," he said.