Thursday, May 28, 2009

SOFTWARE MAY LEAD HARDWARE INDUSTRY SOON

New Delhi
The Asian Age

The software industry could take a lead over hardware industry in India, as being a new sector it didn’t have to deal with old policies like those in manufacturing sector, according to Neil Gregory, senior executive, International Finance Corporation (IFC).

Gregory is one of the co-authors of the book New Industries From New Places: The Emergence of the Hardware and Software Industries in China and India, which was released here on Tuesday. "Software was a new industry so polices were starting from a new clean sheet paper," said Gregory. Whereas in case of hardware sector, there were old manufacturing polices which restricted licences.

The book said that India’s software-sector policies and China’s promotion of special economic zones for manufacturing suggest that well-designed sector-specific government policies can overcome weaknesses in the investment climate and allow developing countries to compete globally in new industries.

The book offers important lessons for other countries hoping to emulate the success of India and China. It asserts that the two countries pursued policies to alleviate key bottlenecks such as access to power for manufacturing and broadband access for software companies, thus enabling globally competitive new industries to develop in spite of deficiencies in the national investment climate.

0 comments: