Monday, October 16, 2000		Article

Bracing for the next Indian exodus to USA

The great Indian phenomenon is sweeping the world of information technology. Producing a rich resource of 68,000 computer software professionals every year, India has turned into a virtual incubator of info-tech talents being wooed by the West. The country is touted as the next IT superpower in the making.

The rush has begun in earnest. While the US government is set to increase its controversial H-1B visas from 1,15,000 to 2,00,000 next year targeting Indian geeks, Germany has opened its doors (so far rather unsuccessfully) to attract more techies. But not everything begins and ends with the great American dream. The other is a more dynamic tale of a booming software industry of which, apparently, the whole information technology world wants to be a part.

So as Bill Gates opens his next Microsoft R&D centre in Hyderabad and NRI-funded technology start-ups make headlines every other day, Indian companies continue to grow rich by exporting low-cost software development services.

According to India’s National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom), the country’s software exports have increased from $ 734 m in 1995 to $ 3.9 b in 1999-2000. It expects to reach an export level of $ 6.3 bn by 2000-2001 and $ 9.5 bn the following year. And the target set by the National IT Task Force is nothing short of $ 50 bn in annual exports of software and services by 2008.

Rajesh Srivastava, vice-chairman, Silicon Valley Indian Professionals Association (SIPA) and president, Balcom Systems & Technologies, believes that the Indian scene could now be rightly compared with the "growing" Silicon Valley of 1982. "I feel that there is great opportunity in India and that is why all large and medium scale companies in the world want to be a part of it," he says, pointing out that he also has an offshore development centre for networking and systems software at Noida industrial centre in northern India.

Like Srivastava, most of the 2,000 or so Silicon Valley Indian entrepreneurs engaged in the hi-tech industry invested in India’s software segment. The reasons he cites are cost effectiveness and lack of skilled personnel in the USA. "This is where India has the lead — availability of technical resources. Currently about 60,000 to 70,000 Indians are employed in Silicon Valley in the hi-tech sector and there is always a shortage. The influx increased around 1996-97 because of the Y2K opportunity," says Srivastava. He also came to the USA for better job prospects in 1991 and worked with Tandem Computers (now Compaq) and Peerlogic before starting Balcom in 1996.

What has made Indians such a major force in the Valley? "In the hi-tech field, quality and technical education in India and the USA has made all the difference," says Srivastava. "Technical capabilities and the ability to take risks have worked well for the community here. The 1990s will be seen as the decade of the rise of the Indian entrepreneurship in the valley. The growth of networking and the Internet technologies created unforeseen technology niches which were quickly grabbed by the Indian engineers to create successful companies."

Nitin Borwankar, who runs an Internet and Web-database consultancy in the San Francisco Bay area, insists that it is the atmosphere in the USA and particularly in the Silicon Valley that makes a difference. If an entrepreneur fails he is always given the opportunity to try again. Having achieved much more than he could have dreamt of while leaving India almost two decades ago, Borwankar is also engaged in a joint software development venture with a Pune-based company.

An alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mumbai, he worked for a short while in India before heading to the USA to study at the University of Southern California. Borwankar feels it is the solid education in technical fundamentals like maths and physics and the ability to handle deep analytical problems that has given the community an edge in the field. "Also, coming from a less industrialised country, we learn to do more with less," he adds.

Suresh Raisinghani, director of the systems integration division of Tata Infotech in Mumbai, concedes that whenever a big company employs IT personnel, it is always aware that 12-15 per cent of the staff could migrate in a steady stream.

And of those jumping jobs, about 60 per cent leave the country. "We have a workforce of 3,000 plus info-tech persons and can handle the staff crunch, but it has happened so many times that smaller companies have closed down because of this migration," he says. "Eventually, even the owner packs his bag and leaves for a job in the USA," he adds.

Interestingly, while the "brain drain" continues, the big players on the Indian IT scene seem unworried by it. Renee Jhala, head of corporate communications at Wipro Technologies, Bangalore, reveals that about one in eight staff seeks to leave for opportunities abroad, mostly for higher education. Of the 6,000 IT professionals employed by the company, 1,500 are posted outside India.

"But yes, we do have problems in getting persons with specific skills like technical consultants and managers for high-powered projects. They come for a price and, since we operate at a global level, we are willing to pay," she admits.