Kalam Ignites the IT minds, Provokes Nasscom to Unleash the $200 billion power within.

President A P J Abdul Kalam addressed the plenary session of 'Nasscom 2006: India Leadership Forum' in Mumbai. He spoke to a packed house on his vision of India’s future.

"The present projection of Nasscom is $60 billion by 2010 and I am here to discuss how to make it $200 billion," the President said communicating the purpose of his visit.

He said that India should aspire for a $200 billion revenue IT industry by 2010 and grab a lion’s share of today’s $300 billion global offshoring market. The potential exists, but we need to ignite this potential within to convert it into reality.

‘‘The Nasscom - McKinsey Report 2005 indicates that the addressable market for global offshoring including BPO is around $300 billion presently, whereas we are only tapping 10 per cent of this addressable market,’’ Kalam said at the concluding day of the Nasscom Leadership Summit, 2006.

From Nasscom’s current projections, the country is expected to reach a target of $60 billion by 2010. To achieve the President’s target, India will need to expand the overall IT and offshoring market to $400 billion and do business with roughly 50 per cent of this slice.

He also mentioned that the key is to have an ‘I can do IT’ attitude’ to really achieve the target.
He mentioned that if each member in this forum at Nasscom promises that he will increase the productivity of his organization by 20% that itself can create a miraculous result. If we commit ourself to the goal and work towards the same, all barriers will automatically disappear.
Kalam urged Nasscom to convert the addressable market of IT and ITeS into an actual market.

The small and medium sized businesses contribute a major chunk to the revenues of the IT Industry and it is the the Government and Nasscom’s duty to support these entrepreneurs and businesses especially in areas of Marketing globally.

"Apart from partnering with International players and Large Indian corporates, Nasscom should also invite and support small enterprises, who are facing problem of marketing their products," he said.

The President also urged the industry to be a part of the World Knowledge Platform with joint partnerships and invest in R&D and knowledge products that will earn more revenue.

The World Knowledge Platform will work for development of biotech and nanotechnology to build a safe and prosperous world.

"There is a need to develop products for the underprivileged and the mass market. I would like to see tablet PCs at a cost of about $100-150 so that a large majority of children even in the rural villages can replace their heavy textbooks with tablet PC’s” said the President.

Business process outsourcing services should be extended to Tier-II cities, he said, suggesting joint ventures with countries like Philippines and Korea in Asia for partnering in an information technology knowledge grid.

Underscoring the need for a level playing field for small and medium enterprises in IT sectors, Kalam asked Nasscom to come forward for the same.
Suggesting setting up of village knowledge centres on the lines of Kisan Call Centres, he asked the industry to address people in rural areas through IT in different domains like travel and tourism, health care, banking and insurance.
The Indian IT and BPO sector account for just 3.5% of the total global market, this has to be raised to 15%, said the President.

Turning the attention on the GramIT project, the President said, the Byrajupura project which has been able to provide connectivity to 116 villages is an excellent example of how villages can be made knowledge centers. He requested the industry to study this successful model and help in replicating the success.

Kalam said that India’s cost competitiveness in software products must aim for quality and just-in-time delivery going forward. ‘‘Since there are a number of countries competing for the $300 billion target, we continuously have to aim high,’’ he said.

Laying out a six-pronged approach for the offshoring and IT business, the President said that Nasscom and the government must assist small enterprises in software by setting up consortiums and undertake major drives to build capacity in graduates working for the ITES and BPO sectors.

He said Indian industry must focus on the Asia Pacific, ASEAN and African countries to become more productive. Besides, he added that Indian IT companies cannot afford to ignore the 1 billion-strong domestic IT market any longer.

‘‘It is the responsibility of the Government, Nasscom and the Indian industries to enable a level-playing-field for the smaller players,’’ Kalam said.

He also said that India’s existing policy objectives for Africa should map on to its IT goals so as to establish a ‘‘Pan-African e-Network that connects 53 countries for providing tele-education, tele-medicine and connecting the Heads of State.’’

Our dream is India leading the technology revolution; the smallest village linked to the world and providing opportunities for every child to reach their potential. He wants India’s BPO industry to promote the ‘tier two’ cities to spread the wealth and lessen the strain on the major ‘traditional BPO’ cities (Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad primarily), and he wants India to lead the R&D activity into new technological products, and to drive the ‘knowledge networks’ across the rest of Asia and the Far East.

Target $200 bn revenues: Some pointers to achieve $200 billion revenues by 2010.

• Invest in innovation IT.
• Form an ICT market for Asia, Africa and ASEAN nations.
• Focus on India and on products for the Indian and Asian markets.
• Indian's pan-African e-network has a tremendous potential; take part in the venture with 53 nations in various aspects of technology.
• Be Competitive and aim high.
• Support the SME segment in their Marketing activities.
• Set up village knowledge centres.
• Convert the addressable market into an actual market.
• Expand BPO and IT activities in big towns to tier-two cities with a population of 1 million.
• Engage more partner nations like the Philippines and Singapore.
• Support projects in e-governance, Rural Projects etc.
• Ensure level playing field for SMEs and help them market their products.
• Develop domain services on the lines of Kisan centres that help farmers to use IT.

This was a very powerful presentation, impressively detailed and with an inspiring Vision. It was provocative and more thought provoking than anything else discussed in the 3 day international level conference. It was not only about financial targets but the impact of technology on the entire nation that was touching. Finally Mr. Kalam summarized his message for the benefit of the delegates by saying that “the summary is nothing else but $ 200 Billion.”