Wednesday, December 08, 2010

Why IT is performing...

I've always wondered what made the IT sector in India hold a larger proportion in the economy. Coincidentally, the Indian ITian Era is marked by the advent of Dot Com burst in the Silicon valley which obviously found a great potential in the cost-effective alternative for the highly paid local work force.

First of all, any human being needs money and it goes without saying that Food, Clothes and Shelter (now it's the TV, the Car and the Own house!) mantra has to be chanted everyday. Human being also craves for a social status - the power to have a say and deal with the issues of concern - and the freedom to choose one's own course. On the top of all, the "EASE" of doing all this. A IT job is a magic pill to earn money, gather assets, have a say on everything they do and freedom to decide what to do! If one has to become a teacher in a Government School or a Jawan in the army, one would need to face the competition with thousands of equally qualified individuals for a limited number of seats but an Engineering graduate from a non-NCERT certified Engineering College also can easily get into an IT company in the third year of graduation, if he/she just sits for a nominal test and answers a couple of (leaked) questions in the interview. If I have a son or a daughter, I would feel, he/she should get educated well and should be employed by a good company and should be paid well. Can you even imagine the situation when you graduate and you don't have a job and stay home thinking about what to do with life? After all, you have a wonderful life in the glass buildings with rotating chairs and dual monitors... pizzas, parties, hikes, coffees, hard & soft drinks, snacks, etc. One side of the coin.

Now the reality. The buying power of a small group is increasing exponentially thereby heavily influencing the pricing of goods and services. Those living in New York or London or Mumbai or Bangalore would exactly know what I'm talking about as they pay their house rent, taxi fares, buy groceries, clothes and dine in the restaurants. This situation is so much a contrast to a country in which agriculture has a major share of economy and the people are dreaded by population explosion, settlements in the low-lying areas, floods affecting the crops, global warming, air, water and land pollution, water problems, hunger and malnutrition that the IT explosion is viewed at as a capitalistic conspiracy by the government. The Satyam fiasco and the recession played a major role in leveling out the craving for scintillating IT jobs. This part of the century has to be labelled the IT Retrospection Period in India as it served as an eye-opener for the over-valuation of limited assets. The worst-affected in this transition being the emigrants.

While I jot down the thoughts just for the sake of summarizing the situation, I can't help thinking deeper and deeper about what can be done! Do you have any thoughts?