The Hindu Business Line : Microsoft calls for curbing privacy, creating jobs

There is a direct correlation between curbing piracy and job creation. If the piracy is down by about 10 per cent from 72 per cent now in India, it could potentially create over one lakh jobs and generate about $5 billion in revenue.

Given such a backdrop and potential for intellectual property (IP) creation in the country and linking this to product development work, Microsoft Indian Development Centre (MIDC) in Hyderabad, its largest outside the Redmond shores, which currently employs about 1,500 plus people, expects to step up this number to about 4,500-5,000 by potentially creating about seven or eight additional towers.

The MIDC works on a range of products and is a pioneer in patent filing in India and accounts for over 100 of them.

Strict implementation

The Director of Genuine Software Initiative (S), Microsoft Corporation (India), Mr Brian J. Campbell, said it is estimated that the Indian product development market is poised to touch $8-11 billion and if this target is to be achieved, there is need for stringent implementation of IP laws. Indian IP laws are amongst the best anywhere in the world and the issue relates to its effective implementation.

As per estimates, India with 72 per cent piracy ranks 13th in the world and loses about $566 million due to piracy directly and about $500 million through Central and other State taxes. A 10 per cent reduction in piracy could potentially add about 1,15,000 new jobs, would help add about $5.9 billion in investment into the economy and generate revenues in excess of $5 billion. Significantly, piracy discourages innovation offering little for IP creation.

Microsoft has a multi-pronged approach to this important aspect as India has emerged as a major market along with China. India adds about 17-18 million PCs a year. The best way is to innovate and bring down products and offer them across the spectrum of usage.

Study

A study on counterfeit software across 17 countries threw up interesting insights. Thirty four per cent of the CDs could not be installed and 43 per cent of them had some spyware mounted on it. Therefore, the saving through genuine software is a clincher for both individual and business users.

This meant the launch of a Windows Starter edition, and gradual roll out of this in about 12 language making it affordable to people.

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