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'Indian IT has weaknesses too'
By siliconindia staff writer
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Tuesday, 03 February 2004, 20:30 IST
WASHINGTON: India has huge potential to provide information technology and engineering services to the world but also has weaknesses that have to be overcome, Vijay Bhatkar, advisory chair of the International Information Technology Institute in Pune, said in Washington.
Through the centuries India has acquired a vast knowledge heritage and is moving towards a modern knowledge society, Bhatkar, who is also chairman of the Board of Dishnet DSL, India, told a conference on education in developing countries organized by the International Financial Corporation.
"A nation of a billion people, it not only has a billion mouths to be fed but also a billion minds to be unleashed. It is already the fourth largest economy in the world in terms of purchasing power parity and its GDP is expected to grow at a rate of 7 per cent plus in 2003-04," he said.
India, in fact, is "an economic miracle in the making."
Education, Bhatkar pointed out, was the No 1 priority for Indian parents. Enrolments at Higher Education level have been growing at 7 per cent plus for the last few decades.
India's IT industry target for 2008 (software, IT services, software products, e-business and so on) is $ 87 billion, of which the export target is $ 50 billion, according to an MIT study team.
