The tone for the seminar was set by Charmed Technology co-founder and CEO Alex Lightman who called for getting Internet access to one billion people in India by the next eight years.

"One billion people connected to the Net would make India one of the super powers in IT-enabled services in the world leading to a cascading effect on all walks of life," Mr Lightman said in a presentation called `An Internet Plan for the Common Man' lasting nearly two hours. The challenge before the Indian IT industry is to connect the disconnected people of the country as fast and early as possible, he said.

The country could take rapid strides towards development by providing better Net access which automatically calls for substantial increase in the bandwidth. "The Indian IT industry should also develop more branded products and services to attain a leadership role. Bangalore should be converted into brand-galore," he said. Indian IT industry should further its close co-operation with its US counterparts to achieve better growth, Mr Lightman said.

Presiding over a session on `Impact of IT on sociological development of society', Sudha Murthy, wife of Infosys chairman NR Narayanamurthy, stressed the need to develop local level networks from the village level to district and to the state level. Bangalore Centre For Knowledge Societies founder Aditya Dev Sood called for a social investment model for the development of IT-enabled growth among the masses. "The private sector could play a vital role in the sector, especially in health and education", Mr Sood said.