The Hindu Business Line : IT industry growth will be there long term, says Nasscom chief

INTERACTION: Mr Lakshmi Narayanan, Vice-Chairman, Cognizant Technology Solutions, with students of SRM College at a BL Club meeting in Chennai on Wednesday. To his left is Mr Mr P. Sathyanarayanan, Vice-Chancellor, SRM University, and to his right Mr. N. Krishnan, Regional General Manager, The Hindu.

Chennai April 25 Mr Lakshmi Narayanan, Cognizant Technology Solutions' Vice-Chairman and Chairman of industry body Nasscom, is confident that the growth of the information and communication technology (ICT) industry will last several years, perhaps even 20 years, and the industry is only in the early stages of the cycle.

Delivering the keynote address on innovation and trends in IT at the valedictory function of the Business Line Club at the SRM University campus near Chennai, Mr Narayanan made a forceful plea to young minds to keep innovating and sustain the growth rate of the industry. Around 850 eager young students of the university from various disciplines of engineering and management hung on to his words as Mr Narayanan outlined why he thought the industry growth would sustain.

The ICT industry, he said, is growing rapidly the world over as businesses and governments have understood that technology delivers greater efficiency and higher productivity. "If you look at leaders in any industry be it automotive, banking or insurance, you will find that investments in technology is disproportionately high because technology gives them a competitive advantage," he elaborated. Technology adoption has also become increasingly affordable as prices have come down while computing power has gone up. The third most important factor driving the growth of the industry is the convergence of communications and IT where knowledge can be disseminated in real time.

Early stages of growth

Given these factors, the obvious question, he said, is how long is the growth story going to last and what does industry have to do to derive benefits from this growth? "From my perspective, and of many in the industry, this phenomenon is only in its early stages; it's a long multi-year trend which could last several years. So for all those entrepreneurs who are part of this industry there are plenty of opportunities in the long term," said Mr Narayanan.

He explained that he is so confident because of the innovation that is happening in the industry that is driving growth. "Innovation is something that is driving this industry. A special reason is that there is a lot of funding that is happening in R&D, but the more important reason is that the people who are part of this industry are very young and innovation that happens is usually driven by a young mind," he explained, citing several examples of Microsoft and Bill Gates and Google, whose innovators were all young people. Young minds, he said, are ignorant about what is impossible; they create a healthy environment and are less risk averse, said Mr Narayanan, adding, to a huge cheer from the students listening on, that Cognizant itself benefited from the young minds who were recruited from the SRM University.

Elaborating on what industry expects from the young students, he said that it does not expect them to come in with a good understanding of technology and business problems — that can be provided with training. "We expect you to come with a thinking ability, an ability to challenge and not to accept. There must be some element of questioning that enhances ability to think and innovate. The second qualification is to work in a team, problems have to be solved by a group and you must have the ability to set aside egos." He advised the students to develop an ability to learn rapidly by themselves as the industry growth is such that people who learn by themselves make good progress.

Also present at the valedictory function were Mr P. Sathyanarayanan, Vice-Chancellor, SRM University, Dr Jayshree Suresh, Dean, Management Studies, Prof R. Venkataramani, Dean, Faculty of Engineering, Dr P. Thangaraj, Registrar and Dr A.M. Balasubramaniam, Director.

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