BANGALORE: Living up to his carefully cultivated larger than life image, Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi on Thursday threw a gauntlet at the big boys of the Indian IT industry, asking them to come out of their comfort zones and do a Nano in the IT sector.
Participating in the inaugural of South Asia's biggest Information and Communication Technology (ICT) show, Bangalore IT.Biz 2008, Modi asked the IT sector to chart the way out from the global meltdown.
Modi observed that notwithstanding its phenomenal growth, productivity of the Indian IT industry was quite low. The average realization per employee is one twentieth of that of global majors like Microsoft or HP.
The event is being co-sponsored by Gujarat.
The Gujarat chief minister said the Indian IT industry had adopted "a safe alternative" with most of its revenue coming from low value addition jobs like manpower provisioning and low-end support activities.
"The industry should come out of the comfort zone and engage itself in creating value for the company and also adding value to the manpower which is working for it. It should empower the young lot working in it," he said.
He said the current model embraced the Indian IT industry wherein the focus was on creating jobs and taking advantage of cost arbitrage, was not sustainable as the manpower costs are rising and countries like China are providing a stiff competition.
Modi wanted the IT industry to change gear to reinvent itself. "It must focus on innovations and systems instead of being comfortable with low end services. It must invest in R&D and sustainable products. Having had a healthy growth, it must now show foresight. Why cannot we develop MS Windows in India or a Google or a Yahoo? If an Indian could develop the Hotmail and given that 30 per cent of Windows developers may well be Indians, the task does not look all that difficult.
What is required is a leap of faith, a paradigm shift," he averred.
Riding on the success of bagging the Nano car for Gujarat, Modi felt the Rs 1 lakh car could be achieved because of the leap of faith. "Even the most optimistic did not believe we could do it. When is it that we will come out with a Nano of IT, with holistic and accessible solutions for the mankind?" he wondered.
He asked the IT industry should see an opportunity in the current global slowdown and show its capacity to sustain its growth momentum.
Modi hardsells Gujarat
Modi utilised the opportunity to hardsell Gujarat as an ideal investment destination by inviting the IT fraternity to participate in a big way in the Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors' Summit to be held on January 12 and 13 in Ahmedabad.
"If you decide to make Gujarat your next investment destination, I am here to assure you of business friendly environment and real-time responses that will pleasantly surprise you," he said.
He also claimed that Gujarat has emerged as the growth engine of India. Gujarat is now working towards becoming India's e-commerce hub supported by sound financial management, robust infrastructure, excellent communication, skilled manpower and traditional entrepreneurial spirit.
