Software is the bluechip of our soft power..!!

Soft power is the ability to get what you want through attraction rather than coercion or payments. – Joseph Nye 

Curse the devil for political stonewalling which saw India bypass the Manufacturing Revolution. But thank God for liberalisation that a young and enterprising India has woken up. 

This transition was best illustrated six years ago by US management guru Thomas Peters at a conference in India: “Fifteen years ago, not one in 1,000 Americans could spot Bangalore on the map. Today, six out of seven think Bangalore is the only city in India. They basically believe 1 billion people live in Bangalore.” 

Much of the credit for that, as has become legend, was because of a bunch of youngsters who dared to dream. Then, over two and a half decades ago, India was still under the dark shadow of the Permit Raj. Infosys mentor N R Narayana Murthy, Nandan Nilekani and five others had to jump through the hoops. In Murthy’s words, it would then take them one or two years and about 50 trips to Delhi to import a computer worth $1,500. 

Infosys was essentially an idea that mutated into a revolution.  Thinkers like Octavio Paz believed the country which gave the world Buddha, Gandhi and the concept of zero in mathematics could find its own way to economic development. 

As history bears it, no component of India’s soft power has been as far-reaching, influential and beneficial as IT. In a sense, independent India’s show of soft power began with Nehru’s global peace initiatives in the 1950s. 

To spread the message in a flattening world, you didn’t need to scream. Because the world had come into a huddle. This suited India fine because the new methods of the market were more persuasive. For it isn’t in our blood to go about blustering and invading. 

Clearly, the binary vision of wealth creation and enhancement of new knowledge has earned India a global stature. 

That the IT brigade is still the strongest exponent of soft power is because there has been no enigma in its arrival. The software pro doesn’t find himself out of place in the new world    technology and programming are global expressions. 

So, can the great Indian jumbo fly? Indeed, yes. The future as gurus of the economy put it, lies in solidifying, broadbasing and diversifying this strength. All packaged in top-quality services and active marketing. The tap of talent can’t run dry. 

"Only the nerds have to turn into geeks, the geeks into Gateses. "