The future lies in it

Wipro chairman Azim Prem
09 September 2003

Mumbai: It is my privilege to be with you this afternoon. I welcome our friends from Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar, Laos and the Philippines in this summit. We have so many things in common with each other. We share the same Asian culture and approach to business. I would like to take this opportunity to speak about the IT industry.

I am most familiar with this industry. Also, IT has been an important industry that has taken India into the global arena. I would also like to dwell on Wipro as a case study, because I am even more familiar with Wipro, and share with you some of the key initiatives we have taken for the APAC industry.

There is no doubt that in recent times, information technology has emerged as the most fundamental strategic tool for an organisation. IT has influenced every aspect of commercial enterprise — its structure, its products and services, its markets and processes. However, in the beginning, I would like to dwell upon the strategic role of IT in building a nation.

IT has been contributing significantly to productivity and growth in the global economy. A 2001 study of major technological revolutions over the last three centuries by the IMF (International Monetary Fund) has revealed that IT enhanced the growth rate of the US economy by 1.8 per cent per annum between 1995 and 2000.

During the same period, IT contributed to improvement in labour productivity by 1.6 per cent annually. The IMF study states that even though the IT spending environment has weakened in the short term, the benefit of IT revolution to the global economy will continue if not accelerate in the long term. I totally concur with this view.

Coming to our own country, the Indian IT industry was $16.5 billion in 2002-03. It constitutes 3.2 per cent of the Indian GDP [gross domestic product]. While the size is attractive, it is significantly short of our potential. Software services exports have been one of the biggest success stories of independent India. Software exports have grown at a compounded annual growth rate of over 40 per cent in the last five years to $9.9 billion in 2002-03. This has brought in precious foreign currency and developed the local economies of the places where IT companies are situated.