New Delhi: No one saw any business potential in India before the 1980s, as India was seen as a backward country with no scope of growth. The License Raj didn’t help, the then Congress government was forced to repeal it in 1991 to avert a default.
That was 33 years ago, a time when mobile phones were just being introduced in the market, a time when the internet age was in its infancy, a time when disruptive technological changes were few and far between.
Then came an opportunity. A slow, gradual one that has become the poster boy of India’s economic miracle. It has created world renowned IT companies like Infosys and TCS that rank amongst the best in the world, along with multinational brands that have thousands of employees working in various roles to provide services that fulfill all sorts of expectations.
What made India a market no one could ignore? Why do companies prefer to hire Indians for managing, creating or upgrading their digital infrastructure?
It’s all got to do with trust, ambition and a can-do attitude that every employer sees as a cornerstone for success.
The IT industry in India has come a long way from doing routine, manual back office work to creating a dynamic digital ecosystem that has evolved in sync with technology upgrades. It now commands more than 11% of global IT exports. Other rivals in this space- the Philippines, Malaysia, and China, haven’t been able to beat India at its game, even though they remain challengers in India’s rise.
The question thus arises- why does an Western multinational still trust a TCS or Infosys as against others in the market? To put it mildly, there aren’t any.
After the Asian tiger economies, only Indian IT brands have been able to emerge as global multinationals, expanding their reach to every available market.
Even though we’ve had competition from other emerging markets, like the Philippines, Malaysia, Russia and Eastern Europe, what makes multinationals trust an Indian brand over the rest? There are a combination of factors at play here.
Indian IT brands have developed a reputation that offers a solution that has a far greater potential to enhance their customer’s core requirements.. They understood the challenges their customers faced, and custom-created solutions that offered the best fit.
For example, TCS first created a punched card attendance system and designed simple software solutions that solved pressing issues. With constant research and innovations, they now handle the entire digital infrastructure for more than 100 Fortune 500 companies, besides being the market leader in software for financial institutions, with TCS BaNCS now being used in more than 400 banks across the world.
Practical solutions, constant innovation and inorganic growth through acquisitions has helped Indian IT companies gain the trust of multinationals the world over.
At home, IT and its related services have helped create millions of jobs for graduates across the country in the past 3 decades. It has helped boost our reputation in the technology space, where an Indian professional is synonymous with an IT professional.
Though we haven’t been able to replicate China’s success-it has emerged as the world’s factory after being in the same position as ours in the 1970s- corporations still trust us to keep secrets than our competitors.
The IITs and government incentives have also have a role here, they have helped churn out bright graduates that have helped us solve practical challenges with existing resources.
Without the IT industry, our country would have been just another commodity exporter. We might be selling unfinished products that have a limited and fluctuating value. Economists agree that the real strength in an economy is the advanced technological products they offer, just like Japan, China and Taiwan are known for its electronics and semiconductors. Thanks to IT, India sits somewhere in the middle- we do sell commodities like petroleum products, rice and wheat, but we also contribute to global supply chains with IT services and consulting.
We are also slowing moving higher on the global supply chain. Encouraged by government incentives and the worsening relationship between China and the West, companies are moving toward a ‘China+1’ strategy, where a larger chunk of manufacturing, research, design and other responsibilities are now done by in-house GCCs for major multinationals in India.
So much, that local design and research teams have developed entirely made in India products that are designed for the unique Indian needs that resonate in many developing countries across the world. GE’s healthcare arm has a 5,000 strong team in India where multidisciplinary teams use the best of digital capabilities to create life saving medical equipment that is exported to even the last remaining market in the world.
From the time the internet gradually became known in the 1990s to being available at a tap of a button, an evolving digital landscape has offered immense opportunities to tap unmet needs. If it weren’t for the readily available talent, government encouragement or entrepreneurial spirit, we would still have remained a third world country without much hope of change.
The IT industry gives millions of students a hope for a better future, where they can rewrite their destinies with hard work, dedication and a zeal to succeed in an environment where competition is intense and which sees only the survival of the fittest. Our young population hungry for change offers us a window for a better future, a resource that the West is increasing looking to tap from us. No matter how many recessions come and go, the future of IT will always remain bright.
