Strengthen infrastructure to sustain IT : Murthy
Monday, 06 December 2004, 20:30 IST
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NEW DELHI: India needs to strengthen physical infrastructure to sustain the spectacular growth in information and communication technologies (ICTs), Infosys mentor N.R. Narayana Murthy said here Monday. "Talking about infrastructure, it's not just the ICT infrastructure the country should focus on. It has to improve its airports, roads, power etc if it is to sustain the growth it has made," Murthy said at the India Economic Summit, jointly organised by the Davos-based World Economic Forum and the Confederation of Indian Industry. "This is necessary to encourage more and more foreign companies to operate in the country, which is necessary to sustain the growth and move up the value chain," he told the session on "Infrastructure: Unleashing India's ICT Potential". In developing physical infrastructure, India should keep in mind the fact that knowledge workers prefer areas offering cultural and artistic entertainment, said James Goodnight, chief executive of SAS, the US business analytical software maker. India has successfully migrated up the IT services value chain from the slot of low cost provider to high quality provider and the focus now should be on innovation, said Soumitra Dutta, dean of the Institute of Business Administration, France. The country's telecom infrastructure also fairs poorly when compared to that of China, which is emerging as its main competitor in the ICT sector, Murthy pointed out. He said another area that needs special care is India's own domestic ICT market. When compared to exports, the country's domestic software market continues to be insignificant. While the exports last year amounted to $10 billion, which was slated to grow to over $12 billion this year, the domestic turnover was pegged at less than $4 billion. This was despite its 15 percent growth for the past few years. The country's domestic telecom and IT infrastructure should rapidly improve to make possible growth in the domestic sector, Murthy said. It fairs poorly when compared to other Asian countries in this aspect. Its telephone density of 3.9 fixed telephone lines for every 100 people is far lower than the 18 lines of China. Even in the mobile phone sector, which has seen phenomenal growth outstripping the country's fixed phone lines, India has a far lower penetration of 5.9 lines per 100 people compared to 18.3 of China. The country also needs to contain software piracy as its firms are estimated to have lost $350 million to the menace in 2003, the Infosys mentor said.
Source: IANS
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