Development Diary

Publisher: Collins Business

Pages: 187

Price: Rs 399

The late Dewang Mehta,the man who gave Nasscom the buzz in the early days,once said the reason India was making so much progress in IT and Beauty referring to the Indian winners of Miss World and Miss Universe titles was because there was no ministry for either. But another reason,in the case of IT,is clear from reading this book an industry association which defined its mandate unusually,and a group of industry leaders who competed tooth and nail but were smart enough to understand that one rotten apple can spoil a bushel; and that united we create value; divided,it flows to the customer.

The IT industrys success story is well documented,in fact it is part of the new mythology of India. Less known are the long years of struggle,tilling the soil,before the efforts bore handsome fruit. The IT sector started off well before liberalisation did. TCS got its first offshore client in 1974 and Infosys was established in 1981 and took 23 years to cross a billion dollars in revenue .

Coalition of Competitors tells the story of Indian IT,through the non partisan eyes of Nasscom,the IT industry body. It is written with both simplicity and sophistication. Simplicity because it does not posture and does not make Nasscom a self-important witness to History,with a capital H,being made. Sophistication because it is not a business historians chronicle of events and anecdotes. It is a strategists and analysts view of what went into the building of a first-rate organisation and the work that it did. It tells of how industry leaders came together at a Nasscom meeting after the Satyam scandal broke and informally agreed not to actively poach Satyam staff and of the role Nasscom played in stabilising Satyam and working with the government-appointed board and IT industry leaders. Through Satyam and other stories,it provides interesting insight into the willingness of diverse companies8230; intense competition8230; to arrive at a common decision for the greater good. It offers uplifting discussion and analysis on the way government and industry worked together in the early days resulting in a government,which had focused on import substitution and domestic protection,making big moves for export promotion like eliminating duties on software imports to encourage training,setting up STP zones and so on.

The point that comes through in the book is that the unusualness of Nasscom lay in how it defined its objectives as industry development and true representation of all members,rather than being a mouthpiece for industry views,shaped by industry power structures. Instead of being bogged down by minutiae,it engaged with mega and diverse issues like driving change in the telecom policy since telecom was key to the industrys ability to grow; in vitalising the technical education industry; in guiding quality certification and encouraging members to adopt it; and,most interesting,in strategising and executing professional lobbying in America against protectionism. Independent research and extremely competent presidents with stature of their own are part of the success formula that the book describes and analyses.

Karnik has provided a good role model for other associations to emulate. How to build a responsive,high-quality industry association,how to evolve its skills and functioning in step with the evolving industry,and how to be non-partisan and democratic when members are mega corps as well as small shops.

The book has both the visionary big picture and the detailed blueprint,complete with a 12-point summary at the end,as well as thoughtful reflections on the industry challenges of the future and on the challenges of building coalitions in general. There are references to prima donnas and big egos that had to be managed,and one wishes Karnik has loosened up a bit,and fed us a few irreverent stories,preferably with names! But the good news is that this book,like Nasscom,is thankfully egalitarian,and does not eulogise industry icons. Most noteworthy and quintessentially Karnik is the absence of the word I in the entire book.