Bill of fare

Bill of fare

Bill Gates is in India again, generating a lot of interest as usual -- and a lot of hype. Among the overblown expectations from this visit is that he will be able to turn the chief ministers of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Punjab, among others, into clones of Chandrababu Naidu. But of course, Vilasrao Deshmukh, Keshubhai Patel and Parkash Singh Badal do not have to meet the founder of Microsoft to become converts to e-governance. They and others are by now well persuaded about the usefulness of information technology in running their administrations. Many government functions in these and other states are already computerised and more are in the process of going that way. What really stands in the way of quicker progress is not a lack of understanding of infotech but a shortage of money. And because there is no single model of e-governance which fits all, each state is having to work out its own solutions, to develop its own ERM package as it were.

More than what Gates might have to say about e-governance, the chief ministers will be interested in his ideas about removing the digital divide. In India that means not only making computers and the Internet financially and technically accessible to more people, it means making basic education accessible to half the population. In this context, it is worth noting that Gates comes bearing gifts: a million dollars' worth of educational software. It remains to be seen what precise purpose it will serve. During the ten years Microsoft has been in India, its major involvements have been a software development centre in Hyderabad, a local language software development project in Mumbai and technology laboratories in IITs and other advanced educational institutions. Such projects have been mutually beneficial. With the number of PC users a niggardly three to four million today, Microsoft has naturally put more emphasis thus far on tapping India's exceptional professional talent. From here on that could change.Forecasts for the growth of the domestic PC market suggest a big jump in the number of PC users over the next few years. If those forecasts are accurate there is considerable potential for Windows operating systems, Windows related applications and other Microsoft products.

Deepening its involvement in India and other developing countries even at this early stage of computer usage makes a good deal of sense as a long term strategy for Microsoft. While its dominance of the American and European markets is being challenged (the US courts have ordered a break-up of the company and the European Union also tends to be prickly about monopolistic situations) there are no similar restraints on Microsoft's growth in the developing world. The software giant is well positioned to enjoy all the advantages of being first and being there -- or rather, everywhere -- when India gets seriously into infotech applications. Whether it is government, business or higher education and who knows, maybe even basic education, there is no competitor in sight today and unlikely to be one for a long time yet. When Microsoft sets up online advanced training for software engineers, shares source codes with Indian institutions, it makes itself indispensable but it also offers India invaluableopportunities.