The Hindu Business Line : Nasscom catalysing change in villages

The National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) has assumed a different role that seeks to make a difference to the people in the rural areas.

It has embarked on a mission to address the development aspect of IT, an area underexposed by the industry. This is by engaging IT companies in issues such as education, community development and healthcare through the public-private participatory approach as a catalyst.

The President of Nasscom, Mr Kiran Karnik, told Business Line that technology companies such as Wipro, Satyam, Microsoft have embarked on projects that reflect their commitment to social development.

The Nasscom Foundation recently initiated a study on corporate social responsibility and found that HR teams were the driving force behind this. It found that the key barrier for a majority of the member companies was dearth of knowledge about what this entailed, followed by insufficient resources.

As partners in change, the effort will be directed towards the grass-roots and Nasscom, in partnership with various stakeholders, such as Government, companies, social organisations, and policy makers, will leverage this repository and thrash out ways to replicate through public-private participation.

"We are also talking to agencies like the Swaminathan Foundation and we will see how we can touch more lives through this approach," said Mr Karnik.

IT exports

With 2005-2006 having ended, as the export numbers are being compiled, we are confident that we would achieve the projected growth rate of 32 per cent overall. Though this looked ambitious initially on a larger base (the previous year growth being 37 per cent), many areas are witness to buoyancy," he said.

The domestic market is showing signs of growth. Larger, long-term deals are being struck. Yet, the domestic industry has a lot more untapped potential. A growth of about 25 per cent on a smaller base was not adequate, Mr Karnik said.

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