India to be IT hub of the world: Nbuttcom

HYDERABAD: India is becoming a major information technology research hub of the world, according to Kiran Karnik, president of Nbuttcom.

Delivering a lecture on "Importance of research for compebreastiveness in IT" organised by the International Insbreastute of Information Technology (IIIT) as part of "R&D Showcase-05" in Hyderabad on Friday, Karnik said India had an advantage at present, which could be leveraged to become a leader in providing solutions.

Tracing the historical growth of the industry from land, labour intensive days to wealth and capital era, he said, "Now the world is moving towards knowledge based industry based on intellectual property" and highlighted the need of automation in software development processes, "which is the need of the hour".

Referring to the changing world scenario relevant to India he said the country should be compebreastive in quality and price to be a global leader.

The challenges thrown open in goods and services sector opening up due to WTO initiatives, were tremendous opportunities for India, especially in the field of information technology, he added.

Stressing on the needs for innovative research and the India's strength in diversity, as well as adoptability to the changing environment, he said the time has come where automation and machines would be able to deliver the much needed services, and added that India's challenge lay in using the young talent and skill to capture different areas of industry in India as well as abroad.

The Nbuttcom chief stressed on the need for closer industry-academics interaction to get the much needed compebreastive edge.

He said that setting up of a National Science and Research Foundation has been accepted by the government in principal involving an outlay of Rs 1,000 crore to build the much needed research base in the country.

Rajeev Sangal, director of IIT, who chaired the session, said the efforts were being made in IITs to strengthen the research and R&D and showcase is one more step in this direction.

Over 250 students from different engineering colleges in Andhra Pradesh participated in the showcase.