Birth and Growth of India's IT Industry : Interview in Techgoss April 2, 2009

By Suneetha

Sam Pitroda, widely regarded as the father of the telecom revolution in India, released this historical book by Dinesh C Sharma, a senior tech journalist. “The Long Revolution: The Birth and Growth of India's IT Industry”, while detailing every important milestone in the tech sector, tells us the real story behind what was perceived as IBM's eviction from India in 1977.

Here is an interview with the author Dinesh C Sharma.

Q (Techgoss): How did you get into writing this particular book?
A: (Dinesh C Sharma): I have been a journalist since 1984. My first job as a trainee journalist with the Press Trust of India 1984 exposed me to two generations of data communication technologies – teleprinter with its paper tapes and the computer-based communication network which was just being introduced in the agency. This was also the beginning of my interaction with the information technology industry as a reporter, which continued over the next decade and beyond.

In the late 1990s, I crossed the fence for a brief while. First I – along with two other friends - floated a dotcom company, then worked as part-time head of India operations of a business-to-business portal for software industry launched by a former investment banker from New York. All these experiences gave me valuable insights into inner workings of the industry. Then while reporting for Cnet.com in 2000s, I realized that interest about the Indian industry was growing in America and yet there were a lot of misconceptions. The same was the case with new generation of Indians who were introduced to the sector in late 1990s. So, I thought of writing a book.

When I did so, the first thought that came to my mind was the story of IBM and Coca-Cola being 'thrown out of India' during the Janata Party regime in 1977. As a reporter, I kept hearing different versions of this story. So, I thought here is my story line – from IBM leaving India in 1977 to IBM's comeback in early 1990s. To the journalist inside me, this appeared to me a killer plot. Barring the IBM's exit and the period of early growth of the industry till 1984, I was a witness as well a recorder of all major events in this period. But when I started researching into the IBM episode, I realized the story actually begins when early computing machines came to India in the pre-independence days. That's how the plot got extended. So this is the first book on the Indian IT industry that tells the story right from the day first computers arrived in India. Much of research and writing for this book took place between 2005 and 2007. I got a one-year fellowship from the New India Foundation, Bangalore, for writing the book.
Read full interview at: http://www.techgoss.com/Story/28S13-Birth-and-Growth-of-India-s-IT-Industry.aspx