KATHMANDU, NEPAL: NASSCOM President Som Mittal today said that the downturn provides a historic opportunity to India and Indian IT Industry to become leaders in the global arena. However, to achieve that, Indian IT industry needs to capitalize the current downturn and plan long term to achieve leadership status among member nations.

Speaking on the topic 'CIO: Embracing the Future' at the C- Change 2009 even, Mittal said that the plans and polices decided by the country for next 10 to 12 years will determine what path India takes in the long run.
"We should not lose sight of what lies ahead. We should not waste this crisis for the crisis is too big to be missed," the NASSCOM president said.

"We are at the cusp of something great and if we miss the boat and handover this opportunity to countries like China, we would be at great loss," he added.

He said India has strong fundamentals, which among others, included teeming young population which was going to be a great asset going forward. "In developed world -  be it Japan or US - we have an ageing population thus lesser people to service. Younger people in these countries have choices and they don't want to be in technology space for it is demanding and entails lot of work."

"In the next five to ten years, we are going to see dramatic changes that eliminate many services in the world.  It is not about cost arbitrage, but very few people to service the world," said Mittal.

"From an Indian perspective, population, considered a problem one time, is now an opportunity. Human capital needs to be built on and we need to continue to work with the government to get skilled people so they are of some use to change the world," said Mittal.

Mittal said for achieving leadership status, country and industry need not get lost in how to deal with downturn but investing in infrastructure so as to be ready when the bad times are behind us. "India needs to invest in health care, education, broadband penetration and open doors to people from other countries."

Charting the growth of Indian IT industry, Mittal said the IT Industry which contributed a modest $2 billion in 1999 is today a $18 billion industry and forms four percent of the country's GDP."

"The industry is 10 years old. This growth has been possible not because of the contribution of Indian IT industry alone but also contributions from MNCs and captive centres that have been set up in the country. And what makes this growth more credible has been this contribution of women and Indian middle class," he added.
 
Mittal also outlined his four-point agenda for the IT industry. Industry has to look at re-balancing customer services and companies have to develop deep domain expertise. Adoption of different sales approach which entails end-to-end work than part is the key to success.
Mittal added that protectionism will not be successful for forces working against it were too strong for it to compete.

"If you look at unemployment numbers in US, the numbers are coming from manufacturing and retail industry while for technology companies, the numbers are receding. And if you look at the US education system, fewer students study Maths and Science subjects and as such US companies are forced to hire foreign students in the last six years," he noted.

Mittal expected that the economy will change its course for good by second quarter of 2009 in India and next year globally. He also added that going forward, the IT industry will focus more on energy efficiency and compliance of regulations.