From: gnreddy@cbnewsf.cb.att.com (G.Narotham Reddy)
Subject: Indian Programmers Ranked No. 1 - World Bank Survey says
Organization: AT&T
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1993 22:36:42 GMT


Source: Business Week (USA), Jan 18, 1993


The World Bank last year surveyed 150 prominent U.S and European hardware 
and software manufacturers that ranked India's programmers as No. 1 out of
eight countries, ahead of Ireland, Israel, Mexico and Singapore. 

                              * * * * * 

Elsewhere, nobody would be impressed. But in India, it has been hailed
as a breakthrough: The nation's No. 1 software maker, Tata Consultancy
Services, in just one year sold 11,000 copies of E-X, a $140
accounting program for personal computers.
	That was remarkable not only because most software in India -
upwards of 80% - is obtained by illegal copying buy also because it
shows that the world's second most populous nation may be beginning to
build a viable domestic software market, that in turn, puts India in a
position to begin competing in global software markets in earnest.
	"In the 1980s, the western world only knew us for supplying
cheap manpower for software development overseas," says Dewang Mehta,
executive director of New Delhi-based National Association of Software
and Services Companies(NASSCOM), a trade group. In the 1990s, the
success of such packages as E-X may help change that perception.
India's domestic software market in 1992 grew by a hearty 45%, to $112
million. This growth is helping India's 500 software houses hone their
development and marketing skills at home so they can sell abroad.
That's  already starting: In 1992, software exports jumped 67%, to
$144 million. NASSCOM predicts software exports will rise to $350
million by 1995.
	the export boom should gather more steam from new government
incentives such as tax breaks and special duty-free export zones for
software makers. If the growth keeps up, it will mean that India's 2.5
million computer and software professionals will have a better chance
of advancing their careers without relocating abroad. And the 20,000
university level computer science graduates and 12,00 computer trade
school graduates that India turns out each year will have a better
chance at landing jobs at home.
	The emerging domestic market - and liberalized rules for
joint-venture ownership- has also encouraged foreigners to expand
their Indian operation. "India's real problem has been the lack of any
domestic market," says Anoop Garg, director of software exports for
DEC India Ltd. With the promise of local software sales, such
multinationals will have more incentives to invest in Indian facilities,
rather than simply import Indian programmers. DEC, IBM and HP rushed
in when joint-venture ownership restrictions were loosened in 1991.
Aided by development contracts from their U.S parents, some of these
ventures have become India's top software exporters.

Catching up. Still, Indian software makers have a long way to go.
Despite the success of E-X, "piracy is the rule rather than the
exception," says Kenneth A. Wasch, executive director of the software
Publishers Assn, a U.S based trade group. Popular programs such as
Lotus-123 are rarely purchased legally and a report by the Business
Software Alliance, an international antipiracy group says that India's
computer users made $63 million worth of illegal copies of U.S.
developed in 1991.

But India's pluses are fast catching up to its minuses. The World Bank
last year surveyed 150 prominent U.S and European hardware and
software manufacturers that ranked India's programmers as No. 1 out of
eight countries for both on-site and offshore software development
ahead of Ireland, Israel, Mexico and Singapore. Other pluses include
the world's largest English-speaking population outside the U.S and an
average annual salary of about $3,000 for a skilled programmer. that's
one reason why 'producing quality software in India costs 40% to 50%
less than what it would cost to develop in the U.S.," says Jack
Epstein, chief operating officer at Parsippany market researcher
InfoTech Consulting Inc. 
	At those prices, India could very well shake off its timeworn
image of snakes and spices and emerge as a land of software.

                          ( E N D )
Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian,soc.culture.indian.telugu,soc.culture.tamil