Indian IT industry, the Government of India has set
up a National Task Force on IT and Software Devel-
opment to examine the feasibility of strengthening
the industry. The Task Force has already submitted
its recommendations, which are under active con-
sideration. Norms for the operations of venture capital
funds have also been liberalized to boost the indus-
try. The Government of India is also actively provid-
ing fiscal incentives and liberalizing norms for FDI
and raising capital abroad.

Recently, an IT committee was set up by the Minis-
try of Information Technology, Government of India,
comprising NRI professionals from the United States
to seek expertise and advice and also to step up U.S.
investments in India’s IT sector. The committee is
chaired by the Minister of Information Technology,
Government of India, and members include Secre-
tary, Ministry of Information Technology and a large
number of important Indian-American IT entrepre-
neurs.

The group will:

© Monitor global IT developments and refine Indian

India-U.S. Economic Relations
(Continued from page 8)

The Forum envisages Cabinet level meetings be-
tween the Indian Finance Minister and the U.S. Trea-
sury Secretary, who are expected to meet on an
annual basis. These meetings are to be supplemented
by more detailed exchange of views and experiences
through sub-Cabinet level meetings of officials of
the two governments with participation of associ-
ated agencies like the Securities and Exchange Com-
mission, Federal Reserve Board and the office of the
Comptroller of Currency on the U.S. side and the
Reserve Bank of India and the Securities and Ex-
change Board of India on the Indian side. The first
sub cabinet level meeting of the forum was held in
Washington, DC in June and the cabinet level meet-
ing is scheduled for September 2000.

In a recent report, Ernst & Young, a leading interna-
tional consulting firm, projected a growth rate of
7-8% for Indian economy In the next few years
based on the anticipated performance of new

IT policy to meet global requirements. Specifi-
cally, this will help angel investors, venture cre-
ators and incubation;

e Promote the growth of human resource develop-
ment in the IT sector with the aim of creating
quality-based education;

e Promote R&D in the sector by identifying thrust
areas and drawing up a blueprint for action.

India’s most prized resource in today's knowledge
driven economic world is its readily available techni-
cal work force. It has the second largest English-
speaking scientific professionals in the world, sec-
ond only to the ULS. It is estimated that India has
over 4 million technical workers and over 1,832
educational institutions and polytechnics which train
more than 67,785 computer software professionals
every year. GOI is stepping up the number and qual-.
ity of training facilities in the country to capitalize on
this extraordinary human resource. It is the knowl-
edge industry that will help take the Indian economy
to a sustained higher rate of growth and the policy
makers are fully aware of this.

economy sectors and government policies continu-
ing to emphasise reforms. Growth could be faster,
the report stated, if the time lag between policy
formulation and implementation is reduced.

The U.S. investor community is today increasingly
sharing this confidence in the future of the Indian
economy. As the Indian economy grows and sec-
ond-generation reforms are implemented, Indo-U.S.
bilateral ties are bound to strengthen further. The
growing synergy between the two countries in the
technology sectors and a mutually shared respect
for democracy, rule of law and well established busi-
ness practices make the two countries natural busi-
ness partners.

The visit of President Clinton to India in March and
that of Prime Minister Vajpayee to the U.S. in Sep-
tember this year are important milestones in this
growing relationship between the two countries.

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