Mumbai, Nov 1: The Indian infotech companies today stand at the crossroads as they are about to face some of the toughest challenges so far from countries like China, Mexico, Thailand and Philippines on the software exports front, according to Wipro chairman Azim Premji. "Our biggest advantage--cost competitiveness is under fire as China and Mexico can now offer equally competitive rates. We are also facing issues like excess capacity in every area of software development," he said while inaugurating the 34th annual convention of the Computer Society of India (CSI) here on Monday.Premji, whose Wipro Infotech is ranked very high among Indian software companies, however, felt that it is time to take stock of situation. "Go up the value and price chains with the customer in your mind. Upgrading skills in latest technologies, cross-cultural skills and managing large complex projects are critcal," Premji said.
He said that the Indian companies have more opportunities than ever before in areas like telecom and e-commerce. "We have the largest pool of software talent in this area and we continue to maintain the levels through our top class education system," Wipro chief, himself a Stanford educated engineer, observed.
While referring to Wipro's success, Premji said that all he did was to be there in the right industry at the right time. "The market capitalisation of IT companies has touched Rs one lakh crore and I hope that it will continue to play a major role in the country's economic development," he said.
Premji exhorted the Indian companies to look towards the domestic market and the growing opportunities here. "Expansion of the Internet has perhaps the biggest influence here in India. The next generation belongs to Internet users, who will number around 70 million by 2003," Wipro chief said.
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