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The IT industry and economic development in India : A critical study
Barnes, Thomas
Barnes, Thomas
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Abstract
Many scholars have questioned the role of the IT industry in India’s economic development. Some have correctly highlighted the limited impact of IT firms in creating occupations accessible to less-educated people or the modest impact of industry output on the livelihoods of people from poorer households and communities. There are thus strong arguments against governments giving fiscal and industrial priority to the IT industry. However, this article explains why the state is unlikely to heed this redistributive agenda. It argues that state assistance to the IT industry has been predicated upon four main factors: India’s surplus of skilled and technically qualified young workers, the dominant role of software services within the IT industry, the formation of political relations between industrialists and state institutions and, finally, the crucial role of software service export earnings in the stabilisation of India’s external position. Even the uncertainty generated by the global financial crisis has, thus far, been unable to dislodge software service exports from their central role in India’s economic policymaking framework. Short of a radical change in the status quo, we are unlikely to see a commensurate change in policy settings.
Keywords
Date
2013
Type
Journal article
Journal
Journal of South Asian Development
Book
Volume
8
Issue
1
Page Range
61-83
Article Number
ACU Department
Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences
Faculty of Education and Arts
Faculty of Education and Arts
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Open Access Status
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