The Hindu Business Line : ‘India will emerge among top 3 economic powers in 25 yrs’

New Delhi, Sept. 5 Global chip giant Intel today announced an alliance of 16 companies under its ‘World Ahead Program’ to apply technology in health, education and rural empowerment in the country, while its Chairman Dr Craig Barrett exuded confidence that India would emerge among the top three economic powers in the next 20-25 years.

Dr Barrett, who is currently on the last leg of his India visit, said while the country had been a bit slow in bringing out semiconductor policy, thereby missing the window on Intel’s manufacturing facility for now, India is still rated high on its list for future capacity building.

Asking the Government not to protect legacy technologies, he said that the company was in discussion with the Government for “including WiMax in 3G spectrum capabilities”.

“My past comments on the need for Government to be technology-neutral are generic, and not targeted at India, in particular. New broadband and wireless technologies can improve connectivity for countries such as India and therefore countries need to make sure that they take a technology-neutral approach and not protect legacy technologies,” Dr Barrett said at a conference here.

Responding to media queries on the company’s chip manufacturing plans, he pointed out that Intel worked out its manufacturing capacity planning “years in advance”.

He further asserted that India would become a strong economic powerhouse in the coming years.

“If India continues to grow at over 8 per cent, one can do the maths and see how long it takes for India to come in the top three economies worldwide. Countries like India and China will have faster rate of growth than the developed nations. Depending on how you do the maths it is inevitable, in 20-25 years,” he said. Separately, Mr Barrett said Intel expected to respond soon to the US Federal Trade Commission on a likely deal with STMicroelectronics N. V. (STM).

Deal with STMicro

“The FTC has requested for additional minor information. We expect a very rapid response back to FTC and then a rapid response from FTC back to us,” he said.

World Ahead Alliance

Meanwhile, the 16 Indian companies which are a part of World Ahead Alliance include Apollo, NIIT Ltd, Comat Technologies, Digital Empowerment Foundation, Educomp Solutions, eGovServices, Fortis Healthcare, Karishma Software, Manipal University, Sankara Nethralaya, SN Informatics, SREI SAHAJ e-Village, and TCS.

Many of these companies have played a key role in helping Intel develop and deploy technology and training solutions in the areas of e-government, e-health, rural empowerment and education, the company said.

Intel India today also signed an agreement with New Delhi affiliate of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation to create a partnership focused on advancing Intel’s education initiatives.

The MoU calls for UNESCO and Intel to work jointly in the areas such as teacher professional development, developing policies for innovative use of technology in curriculum and promoting scientific research in education.

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