Calling upon the diaspora to participate in various programs like Make in India, Smart Cities, Swachh Bharat, Clean Ganga Mission and Skill India, at this year's Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, the Indian government sent out a clear message: Successful and prosperous diaspora is an asset to India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said times are changing quickly, and India is rising with great strength. At a time when the world is looking towards India with hope and optimism, opportunities beckon you in India. He referred Indian diaspora as "great capital and strength" for the country and appealed to the community of over 25 million people living in over 200 countries to help transform the nation.

It was welcoming the Prime Minster announced lifelong visa for PIO cardholders, merging of PIO and OCI schemes, visa on arrival for 43 countries, and electronic travel authorization. Later this month, President Obama will visit India as chief guest for India's Republic Day function. This is a significant step forward to the Indo-US strategic relations. Modi's decision to invite Obama, and the American president's acceptance not only speaks of the mutual understanding of the two leaders but also seems to be redefining the terms on which India is likely to engage with the world in the coming years.

Over the last 17 years, SiliconIndia has chronicled the contribution of Indian- Americans. Indian entrepreneurs in the U.S. play a key role in strengthening the ties with India. We will continue our coverage of this ommunity and bring you insightful stories. We are starting new year with our special on "developed in India". We have had very successful Indian founded companies both here in the U.S and India, that have been doing full product development for some of the top tech companies in the world. In this edition of siliconindia, we present to you 20 Most Promising Outsourced Product Development companies. Several Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) are taking their offerings to the emerging platforms. They are also adopting new technologies into their offerings.

These opportunities have thrown open the door to OPD vendors to cater to an increasing demand by directly addressing the need of the ISVs. OPDs with stronger capability to bring about convergence in Social, Mobility and Analytics will have a major role to play in maximizing returns on R&D spend for ISVs.

Over the last few months, our editorial team evaluated several technology companies. The chosen 20 are the ones who have capabilities in new technologies and ability to partner with ISVs to optimize their R&D costs. Hope this list will help you in formalizing strategies for your organization. We also feature Ram Talluri-founded Lead IT which is in the forefront of OPD wave. The team at this Illinois-based company understands the need of the ISVs and provides an overall outsourcing value proposition in terms of Product development, Maintenance & Support, Upgrades and Customizations.

Warmest Greetings of the Season and Best wishes for a prosperous 2015