A discussion with my friends brought about this topic. The discussion initially started with talks on the condition of Software Exports and the amount of revenue it brings to the Indian Economy as a whole. Though the Software Exports business (by way of consulting projects) has been good over the past so many years and have made billions of dollars for companies like Infosys, TCS, Wipro, etc., the question that we all had was about the future of the Software Exports business.

We all know that India has been receiving consulting projects because of the talent pool we have and secondly because of economical per hour rates when compared to USA and European countries. But, with time other countries are coping up. Their talent pool and per hour rates are comparable to ours.

Take China for example. To my understanding China is not far behind on grounds of talent pool and per hour rates. We have been slightly over-confident about the fact that such projects will keep coming to India because we are the largest English speaking country (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_English-speaking_population). But for how long? How long will China be left behind? One fine day China will come up to our levels. What will be the competitive edge that we will have then?

I think it’s time that we start building software products and market them. Ultimately a product offers more power of earning because you develop once and then implement/install everywhere. We should definitely start to think in this direction and start building capacity both educational and entrepreneurial. After all why can’t we have the next best Operating System or an Office Productivity Suite or a Programming Language IDE, etc. etc.

I think India has a lot of scope as regards “Made in India” Software products. Think about it.

Please feel free to add your comments and replies.

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