Infotech honchos for better education

NASSCOM 2007

Infrastructure, innovation and education continued to be the focus of the Nasscom Leadership Summit on its third day today.

Nasscom President Kiran Karnik raised concern on why IT companies could not use metrics to bring down the poverty rates?

He was speaking on the sidelines of the a seminar on 'Strange Rise of Modern India: Claiming Victory Soon', which was headed by TCS Managing Director and CEO S Ramadorai, Wipro Chairman Azim Premji, EDS President and COO Ronald A Rittenmeyer and Financial Times Washington Bureau Chief Edward Luce.

Ramadorai said it is not that the policies were found lacking but the implementation, which has become a drag. The other concerns he highlighted were the need for better education and a need to look at alternative source of energy along with creating better infrastructure.

The Wipro Chairman noted that India is still a place of contradiction where poverty co-exists with booming economy. "You cannot distribute wealth unless you can create it. But I feel that we will see innovation from India in areas like business models, pharma industries, software and financial services globally," he added.

With the Indian BPO industry under constant threat of a backlash, Rittenmeyer said, "I think the backlash issue is always made when the elections are around the corner. It is more about political commentary than anything. Companies should be more concerned about being the 'best shore' than being an offshore destination."