Software is the blue chip 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. Even as its founders were charting out plans, the potential of India’s vast physical and human resources to become a world power was being foreseen. 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. That and the dalliance with non-alignment, didn’t bring much distinction but there were signs of cultural strengths that could appeal. From within the confines of the socialist setting, Raj Kapoor’s aura immortalised by the Chaplinesque Awaara earned him a following from Tehran to Tashkent. Around that time, Mahesh Yogi introduced transcendental meditation to the West and became the Beatles’ spiritual guru.

Yet only after the unclanking of the nuts and bolts of the rusty Licence Raj, was there hope. 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.

Suddenly it seems we held all the aces. Cola ads sprung up on the walls of thatched huts in the boondocks. Our music, literature, dance, art, cuisine and sport appeared on international billboards. Bollywood has been going to London and Rajnikanth has cast a spell on Japanese viewers. Amid all this, the IT juggernaut rolled on.

Clearly, the binary vision of wealth creation and enhancement of new knowledge has earned India a global stature. The staggering impact shows in McKinsey report projections which put IT exports from India by the end of 2008 to $50 billion and employment figures at 2.2 million. Nerds armed with technical degrees and dreamy-eyed entrepreneurs have become the new raiders. For all the scornful remarks about “software coolies”, the revolution is not about coding alone as shown by the enterprise of Sabeer Bhatia or the evangelism of the late Dewang Mehta. 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. And unlike in the areas of culture, he isn’t speaking an ethnic language. Technology and programming are global expressions. Besides, they are great enablers. The Rajus from the hinterland who are sipping coffee at Starbucks are armed with self-esteem. Technology is about saying, “Yes, we can” even in providing computer graphics imaging for Hollywood. It’s about the empowerment of the supranational Indian who has learnt English at school. Shifts such as the dwindling cost of hardware and the spiralling prices of software have only ensured India remains on the crest of a wave.

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. Thank God, too, we have the hunger and are not belching yet.