The Hindu Business Line : `India can play leadership role in ICT in the region'

"We have been articulating with the Indian policymakers about the need for India to play a larger role in the region. This can also bring about significant development while serving others through public private participatory mode." — Dr Mohsen A. Khalil, Director Global Information and Communication Technologies at World Bank

Dr Mohsen A. Khalil, Director, Global Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), at the World Bank and the IFC, is on a mission to reach out the benefits of technology to emerging countries and this region in particular.

Mr Khalil was in Hyderabad last week to participate in Second Global Forum on Business Incubation, where ICT professionals from over 60 countries had converged, to brainstorm focus areas and share concerns and explore collaborative initiatives.

R&D partnership

This is part of the Information for Development Programme (InfoDev) of the World Bank and the Department of Science and Technology, in partnership with the Andhra Pradesh Government and the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. This partnership is directed towards supporting research and innovation and encouraging entrepreneurs.

Referring to the e-Governance projects, Dr Khalil said a lot needed to be done to popularise and replicate them. His work involves advisory services to governments on sector reforms, regulatory frameworks and institutional capacity building, in addition to supporting private investments in developing countries.

An MS from MIT Sloan School of Management, and a Doctorate from the University of Southern California, he draws upon expertise from across several sectors including a stint as a consultant with McKinsey & Co. Coming from Lebanon, which was witness to over 17 years of strife, he explained how expatriates played a big role in the country's reconstruction.

Potential for leadership

Extremely optimistic on the potential of the ICT in the emerging markets, Dr Khalil, whose team works across projects in 60 countries offering consultancy, advisory and even funds, believes that India has the potential to play a leadership role in the ICT sector over the next 10 years. At an exclusive interaction with Business Line, he said that Indian technology providers have been scaling up the value chain through innovation and leadership. It is time for these companies to take to both cross-border acquisitions and also partner with local players in various parts of the region. India has the potential to play a significant role in reaching out the benefits of ICT to other countries in the region, he explained.

All research studies point towards increased spending in the region for the ICT sector. Its impact is so profound that it gradually encompasses other sectors including manufacturing and services. Globally, innovation is driven by the large middle-class and India is no exception. Its human capital has made significant strides and is amongst the most fascinating countries.

What started as a cheap labour import, has witnessed a major transformation and nowmany of the skilled professionals are returning and there is reverse brain drain now. Manysocial investors have emerged who are looking to partner local entrepreneurs and assist them with funding.

He feels the Indian youth has the power of playing a larger role of a catalyst for other industries. The Indian model has been different. While others have created infrastructure and built services, the Indian human capital served others first even without infrastructure that is now being created. Referring to some limitations, Dr Khalil said one is of capacity; wages have gone up and there is high turnover. India has come to a stage where Ireland was a few years ago and led the offshoring wave once. The World Bank group is keen to replicate successful models through South-South cooperation. There is heightened interest by private equity, hedge funds, which are keen to lend new projects in the region implemented through public private partnership in the region.

Talks with policymakers

"Our approach to lending and advisory varies depending on the situation. This could be by working directly with the client government, or by providing access to technology and funds and also by funding innovative projects," he explained.

"From the ICT perspective, IFC invests through equity participation and also facilitates relationships in the areas of triple play and convergence, telecom infrastructure and last mile connectivity projects. Earlier, we had invested in companies such as Bharti, RPG and some others and we continue to invest in new areas and are in parleys for the same," he said.

Peculiar scenario

India is faced with a peculiar scenario. While the mobile phones have grown phenomenally, the Internet and broadband penetration is very low.

This anomaly needs to be addressed collectively and is one area, which requires fresh thrust. Investments in triple play would go up but India needs to tackle last-mile connectivity issues. This is controlled by the incumbent and cable operators and holds the key to faster penetration.

From the World Bank's and IFC's perspective, the investment focus is now on funding innovative projects in partnership with agencies such as the Department of Science and Technology and other public and private sector players with an accent on incubation and public-private partnership model.

The funding is limited to the government in the technology sector. "However, we are also funding areas such as chip design and technology product creation through incubation that can create global impact," he said.

"I have had fruitful interaction with the sector regulators and commend their efforts to provide a level playing field. However, some issues such as spectrum allocation, which hold the key to faster penetration need to be addressed," he added.

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