Cyber fusion

On Thursday, Prime Minister Vajpayee addressed a seminar organised by Nasscom and the China Council for Promotion of Investment and Trade in...

On Thursday, Prime Minister Vajpayee addressed a seminar organised by Nasscom and the China Council for Promotion of Investment and Trade in Shanghai and talked of the potential of India and China doing business together in the IT sector. But much before that, software professionals in the US had expressed alarm over a draft bill that was being debated in Beijing which stipulated that at least 30 per cent of funding for the online information projects of the Chinese government be spent on software, with at least half of this money being used to purchase domestic Chinese software. The question raised at that juncture, of course, was whether there were enough domestic software suppliers in China to meet this demand and American lobbyists took heart from the fact that there weren8217;t. Well, perhaps, that could change if China responds favourably to the invitation Vajpayee extended to it at Shanghai.

The prime minister8217;s speech was interesting for two reasons. One, it provided an alternative framework for Indo-China relations based on complementarity rather than competition. Two, it underlined the need to think ahead and break out of the confines of the 8220;traditional8221;. Therefore, while mango farmers in India have reason to be grateful to China for partially opening its markets to them, the real quantum leap in the future 8212; as everybody knows and as Vajpayee underlined 8212; has to be e-powered. There is an opportunity here, the prime minister said, for an 8220;effective alliance8221; between Chinese hardware producers and Indian software professionals. There is an additional aspect to be considered here. Indian diplomacy has traditionally veered away from taking an overt interest in the business of Indian business. Therefore, the new savvy with which the government now showcases Indian IT talent is all to the good. Just look how the Americans do it. Their leaders, including very often presidents themselves, are not shy about promoting the interests of US companies and even occasionally twisting an arm to drive the point home. The Indian government has traditionally been far more conservative in these matters, ever conscious of the divide between political diplomacy and corporate lobbying. In a rapidly globalising world, however, such punctiliousness doesn8217;t pay. India needs to sell itself with a new aggression, especially in areas like IT where it has demonstrated world class potential.