IT sector wants integrated knowledge townships

The information technology industry wants the Government to draw lessons from the townships created in the 1950s for the manufacturing sector and replicate the success by establishing integrated knowledge townships for it.

Such facilities were required as the existing physical infrastructure was proving inadequate for the industry that earned $24 billion in export revenue last fiscal and is targeting $60 billion by 2010.

Mooting the idea of knowledge townships, National Association of Software and Service Companies president Kiran Karnik said all facilities, especially a good mass public transport system, and a high speed corridor connection to an international airport must be part of the facilities.

Tier-II cities

Physical infrastructure, be it land availability, public transport or power supply, was a concern for the industry that provided direct employment to 1.2 million people and was looking to move to tier-II cities.

"Speed breaker [for the IT industry] is the infrastructure ... creates a problem of inefficiencies," Mr. Karnik told The Hindu here on Thursday.

Describing infrastructure as a serious concern for the industry, Mr. Karnik emphasised the need to think radically and called for measures to reduce the load on cities where the industry operated. The Special Economic Zones, he said, had the potential to provide solutions for the industry on the issue of infrastructure "but that's not happening," particularly on account of the land area stipulation. The minimum land stipulation for the SEZ must be in accordance with the size and population of the city.

On the industry performance, he said through its work it had changed the perception of India abroad from being a low cost production centre to a country engaged in sophisticated work. It also benefited the Indian manufacturing sector. "They are looked at in a very different way." But the challenge for the industry, on which several corporations in the U.S. have become dependent, lay in promoting greater domestic use of its products and services, said Mr. Karnik. This is one area promising tremendous growth potential, but the barriers were many, including human factors such as corruption and bureaucracy. Promoting competition in several sectors as in the case of banking and telecom could help in the growth of the domestic IT market.

Underlying the need for the IT companies to overcome the "quarter se quarter tak" syndrome and take a long-term approach, he said NASSCOM efforts had resulted in the Government's unveiling the e-governance plan. The scenario is "beginning to change but momentum is not there."

Earlier in the day, responding to queries from presspersons after inaugurating the third delivery centre of Thinksoft Global Services here, Mr. Karnik said the industry was definitely not in favour of job quota or reservation. Calling for the need to look at the problem more holistically, he said the present education system was dismal. The need was to replace the education system prejudiced in anybody's favour with a merit-based one.

Source: The Hindu More

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