26
f o u r
Leader
N
o one will ever write “let us now praise famous lobbyists” and mean it, but in
the case of Dewang Mehta such a sentiment might be forgiven. Mr. Mehta, who
ran India’s National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM)
was no mere corporate shill. His death in April was front-page news in India
—
and
deservedly so.
Mr. Mehta drove the Indian software business and played no small role in turning
it into the $6.4 billion force it is today. His relentless cheerleading, strong intellect,
and political savvy helped push India’s politicians to surprising actions, like spurring
the tax-happy Indian government to reduce taxes on software. His admonishments
also prodded India into building software technology centers around the country
and offering numerous incentives to software companies. Mr. Mehta was India’s
real Minister of Information Technology, coming from no less an authority than Pramod
Mahajan, who actually holds the post.
India will miss Mr. Mehta for many reasons, not the least of which is that the
Indian software business is at a crossroads. Despite the country’s size, there are too
few companies like Infosys Technologies (Nasdaq: INFY) and far too many software
sweatshops doing contract programming. Though contract programming helped put
India on the digital map, Mr. Mehta, a master motivator, had a bigger vision. The
question now is, who will step forward to take it to the next level? It isn’t clear
that any one person is up to the task
—
the workaholic Mr. Mehta’ s obsession with
NASSCOM will be difficult to replicate, especially since it certainly helped cause
his untimely demise. There is no lack of Indian entrepreneurs flourishing in the
United States, and perhaps one or several of them might take up the reins.
In the meantime, other developing nations could do much worse than model their own
technology efforts after what Mr. Mehta fostered in India.
n
Jason Pontin
(
A global thought leader, Red Herring’s Editor, Jason Pontin has always had an interest in India and its IT industry. Dewang was
instrumental in inviting and bringing Pontin to India, as a speaker at Nasscom’s Annual conference - Nasscom 2000 and 2001.
Dewang and Pontin held strong, yet occasionally differing views on the Indian software industry. It was a bit of a love-hate
relationship, where they simply agreed to disagree.)
Jason Pontin
Editor, Red Herring
RED HERRING
