[Reader-list] Desi tech companies sharpen India focus- 202

[Taha Mehmood]

Dear All

As the story below clearly suggests, ' Government has emerged as one
of the leading IT spenders in recent times.' Can we think that an
underlying assumption for such a statement could be that demand in the
private sector with respect to IT and ITES is fading or is no more as
vibrant when compared with a demand which comes with re-distribution
of public money?

Can we also think that with the appointment of Nandan Nilekani as head
of UIDAI, the Government of India is trying desperately to rebuild a
sector which could not hold on its own?

Why is that in India every time we see a general percolation of a
perception of excessive wealth creation related to a sector, like the
agriculture story of Punjab for instance, there's also a huge transfer
of public money, a heavy hand of subsidies, which is instrumental in
creation of this wealth in the first place? There's of course nothing
wrong in this but does this transfer results in benefit for all,
results in a good for all? I think in this regard we could also look
into the Enron Story and its relationship with the Bush family.

The tagline for Enron, as we all know, was- Ask Why?

Don't you think we need to do more of that with respect to ID card
story in India?

Warm regards

Taha


http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/business/india-business/Desi-tech-companies-sharpen-India-focus/articleshow/4904645.cms

Desi tech companies sharpen India focus
Rajesh Chandramouli, TNN 18 August 2009, 01:34am IST

CHENNAI
: After being stung by the global recession and realising that the
desi market is not just better insulated, but also robust and strong,
domestic technology majors are sharpening their India focus.

A string of recent announcements by tier I tech companies that they
would bid aggressively for government or private projects clearly
suggest that India as a software market is too big to ignore.
According to a recent Gartner report, the overall Indian IT services
market is pegged to grow to $10.73 billion by 2011 at a five-year
compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 23.2%. Software services will
constitute a fair chunk of that.

Clearly opportunities exist in areas like National e-Governance Plan
or Unique Identification card project or servicing the operations of
the growing telecom operators, an analyst with a tech major said. It
is just that some companies were already here doing these quietly
while others want to enhance their presence now. Isn’t a 20+% growth
segment attractive, he said.

Unlike many, Wipro has always maintained a sharp and dedicated focus
on the domestic IT market. Wipro’s India and Middle East business
unit, Wipro Infotech, has been working on the domestic IT market for
over two decades, said Anand Sankaran, who heads Wipro’s India and
Middle East operations. For Wipro, India has always been an important
market and we have a huge presence in India with revenues to the tune
of $1 billion and growing.

Government has emerged as one of the leading IT spenders in recent
times. Be it ESICs Project Panchdeep which is aimed at improving
healthcare or big ticket deals with BSNL and LIC, all these bids now
see desi majors bidding aggressively. Apart from bidding for projects
in traditional areas of strength like BFSI, companies are also
focusing on emerging opportunity sectors like IT infrastructure, power
and utilities.