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VIVEKANANDA KENDRA PATRIKA SECTION - 4IT’S WRITTEN, NOW JUST DOT THE ‘I’ S,CROSS THE ‘T’ S (Part III)Arun ShourieThe phenomenal success in IT is theresult primarily of the enterprise andinnovativeness of our entrepreneursand young professionals, and of private firmsthat have spread computer literacy tomillions. Government initiatives andincentives have also played a major role. Bycount there are almost three dozen fiscalincentives the government has given to thesoftware industry-the very ones the industryitself has urged would help it the most.Similarly, the government has set up 39software parks. In these, IT firms get all theinfrastructure and services they require atone go. About 3,500 firms operating fromthese parks export Rs.37,000 crore worthof IT products and services –that is, about80 percent of IT exports.In a word, the sector is a model ofgovernment-private partnership. Some of thethings the government has to do in thecoming months are implicit in the foregoing– for instance, our embassies and chanceriesin the US and Europe must continue to worktogether with NASSCOM and otherorganisations to staunch the backlash.The government has to continue to, and iscontinuing to, improve the infrastructure theindustry requires. Work along othercoordinates is also proceeding apace.Attitudes too have changed: governmentpersonnel do realise their task is to enableentrepreneurs and technicians to do evenbetter. But every other week I come acrosssome facet that reminds me this is one areaSAMARTHA BHARATA 228in which the governmental structure can bemore forthcoming.• It professionals do not make muchdistinction between night and day: in partbecause they are young, in part because theyget seized by the problem on which they areworking, in part because when at night theyare home it is day for their client in, say, theUS.Each time I go to Bangalore, they tell methat to attend to a conference call from theirclient at night they have to go back to theiroffice. The telecom people say they do notconnect company-leased lines to the telecomnetwork, as this becomes the channel forillegal, grey traffic. But can we not work outsome arrangement for these world-classfirms? I ask. Negotiations are still on!• Clients from Europe are loath tospend extra hours, sometimes a day changingflights in Mumbai, to get to Bangalore; theyrequire daily direct flights to Bangalore.• Firms that operate from multiplelocations have complained of problems withlocal customs officials about soft-bonding ofcomponents.• For persons in this industry, as formany others, a laptop is as much of anaccessory as a pen, as a mobile phone. Butour regulations require that, each time wego abroad, we have particulars of our laptopstamped on our travel documents.A while ago, one of the icons of the industrywas held up as he did not have the requisite