Lack of IT infra a drag on India, reveals study

Economic Intelligence Unit (EIU) is the research arm of London-based publication, Economist. The report, ‘Resilience amid Turmoil: Benchmarking IT Industry Competitiveness 2009’, ranks India at 44th position in the IT Industry Competitive Index 2009, four positions higher than its 2008 ranking. Overall, 66 countries feature in the index.

“In emerging markets, large pools of IT skilled employees remain a significant advantage for China, India Russia and other countries, but uneven progress in other areas such as IT infrastructure, remains a drag on their IT competitiveness,” the report said.

However, despite accusations against the Obama regime of being ‘protectionist’, the US retains the top ranking, followed by Finland, Sweden, Canada, the Netherlands and the UK.
Broadband networks are becoming increasingly essential to IT firms’ competitiveness, the report said, adding the slow march of technology (broadband) in emerging markets including those with large IT sectors such as India, Russia and Brazil, could impede their IT firms’ growth.

Forecasting a fierce competition to acquire best talent once the recession blues fade away, the EIU research calls for co-ordinated efforts among Governments, universities and IT firms to improve the quality of technology, training and expand the pools of potential hires in Asia.

Investment in skills development remains a long-term imperative, the report said, adding, “In Asia, IT training would benefit from greater investment in business studies and language skills,” it said.

“The Intellectual Property (IP) regimes are improving in many emerging markets but more progress is needed. As innovation becomes more important than low-cost labour to IT firms in China and India, IP enforcement is expected to improve in these countries as well,” the report observed.