New Delhi, October 25, 2005
Harish Dugh
Express India
Indian IT industry that was synonymous with Bangalore’s
success for so long has received a huge image makeover
and though it has not affected the industry, it has
certainly spiked the success story of the city.
How and where the charm was removed has more to
do with the politicising of the nascent industry,
than anything the IT honchos have done. They made
money, oodles of it, and the politicians want some
power over it.
The Indian government, and by proxy, the politicians
had been caught off guard by the success of the sector
starting in the eighties under the wings of then Prime
Minister Rajiv Gandhi. There were no rules written
for it, and as a result it rocketed to fame and wealth
while the bureaucrats and the politicos were shunted
to the sidelines.
However, you can never keep a politician there for
too long. Seeking a piece of the huge pie generated
by the techie companies, politicians of all ilk and
leanings tried to elbow into the mechanics of the
sector. Since Bangalore was the biggest IT area in
India, where else but here would the problems start.
Result? Bangalore is imploding.
Trying to whip the IT men into line a series of events,
accusations and innuendo have been unleashed to push
the techies onto the backfoot and get them to give
up some of their powers to the politicians.
The most high-profile of the incidents is the one
where Infosys Chairman and mentor Narayan Murthy was
targeted by Janata Dal (S)’s Deve Gowda, former
Prime Minister of India.
Gowda indicated in harsh language that Murthy was
not contributing to the wealth and prosperity of the
area but was in fact taking advantage of his reputation
and the success of his company to corner land for
the company. In addition, he blamed Murthy for not
being an asset on the board of the Bangalore International
Airport Authority Ltd. A post that the Infy man quickly
quit.
Former Chief Minister S M Krishna did not bother
to get involved in the fracas, choosing to stay mum
as elections and an ally are at stake. He is letting
Gowda do his dirty work for him. While Union Finance
Minister P Chidambaram made placating noises to retain
Murthy, he did not issue any whip or ultimatum, signalling
that he is powerless to step into this war between
the techies and the politicians.
Far from appreciating the money and employment generated
by the sector, the politicians are trying to get control
over the future of the sector (the Indian IT and IT-enabled
services (ITES) industry) that generated $5.7 bn in
exports in 2002 and jumped to $17 billion in 2004-05.
With over half of Fortune 500 companies being clients
of Indian IT companies, realisation has dawned on
other, smaller, Western firms about the advantages
of outsourcing and this promises an even bigger bonanza
for India. Politicians have not lost sight of the
factor that the sector’s exports are growing
at about 34.5% per year.
The IT-ITES sector employs over 2.5 million people.
With companies other than in US and UK seeking to
outsource to India (Holland, Sweden, even tiny Switzerland),
the job opportunities are going to be huge. They may
not be big in terms of money but they will be many
in number and all together they will add up to an
astronomical amount, though no one is willing to hazard
a guesstimate.
Also, not only are Indian companies doing well, foreign
corporate giants like IBM and SAP are hiring indiscriminately
in India, while firing their employs in US and Europe.
Hewlett-Packard will be retrenching 14,000 workers,
IBM went on record targeting a similar number. Everyday
another foreign company reveals a similar strategy
in India.
All of these together also generate innumerable jobs
in terms of transport, real estate, catering, and
many more, besides firing up demand for phones, cars,
computers, et al.
With so much money in circulation and power to be
had over providing jobs to a job-starved India, was
there any doubt in the mind of anyone that an attack
for subverting control was imminent.
The strategy made, politicians sought to push home
the victory.
How?
First and foremost was to ensure that infrastructure
projects never took off or were mired in controversy
or bureaucracy. As such, we can see a flyover being
built on Airport Road since 2003. The workers are
idle and the hulk of the structure is rusting. No
deal!
There are innumerable other instances of the same
thing happening over every area of activity that is
crucial to the IT sector.
