Indiens Elektronikpolitik und seine Exportpotentiale im Software-Bereich

Abstract Hindsight has demonstrated that the pessimistic assessments of the Indian computer industry in the 1970s and 1980s have proved false. Indeed, the development of computer electronics in India has become an example for other countries in the third world. In fact, Indian computer companies, who first presented themselves to the German market at the CeBiT in Hannover in 1989, have found themselves to be sought-after partners for cooperation with companies abroad. The development of the Indian computer industry has been spurred on by the relaxing of protectionist practices on the part of the Indian government. It has also sharpened competition in the domestic market, where a plethora of companies have been founded, many of them by Indian nationals who were previously employed in the United States. There, Indians have long been recognized as exceptional exponents of computer technology and especially as software engineers. Due to the fact that innovation in the computer industry is exceptionally swift and that each new stage of development leads to rapidly declining prices, it is not advisable to attempt to follow step by step the development path taken by industrial countries. Now Indian policy is taking the more promising approach of purchasing selected technology and adapting it to the special conditions of the country in order to diminish the technology gap. Isolated, self-made high tech cannot be competitive on the levels prevailing on the world markets.