The impact of globalisation on India's information technology industry¹

Based on a paper presented at the IFIP Working Group 9.4 International Conference on Information Technology and Socio‐economic Development, 9–11 June, 1995, Cairo. A modified version of this paper has been published in Information Studies (Madras, India: Ranganathan Centre for Information Studies) Vol. 1, No. 2, April 1995.

Abstract

This paper analyses important changes taking place in the Indian information technology (IT) industry as it faces up to the challenge posed by state policy liberalisation and the ensuing process of globalisation. The impact of globalisation may be both positive and negative; it provides a pathway to continuous technological upgrading, but at the same time threatens the very survival of indigenous IT firms and their technological capabilities, painstakingly built on the basis of import substitution. Although Indian IT firms are seen to be responding to the changed economic and policy environment of the 1990s, the industry's future can only be secured by a renewed policy thrust on applications development for the domestic market accompanied by a push for IT diffusion as against mere production. While the paper cautions against generalised policy prescriptions, it illustrates the significance of pragmatic policies that can help obtain the maximum benefits from IT while coping with the rapid technological changes that characterise the industry.

Notes

Based on a paper presented at the IFIP Working Group 9.4 International Conference on Information Technology and Socio‐economic Development, 9–11 June, 1995, Cairo. A modified version of this paper has been published in Information Studies (Madras, India: Ranganathan Centre for Information Studies) Vol. 1, No. 2, April 1995.