Does inexpensive labour give Indian software firms an edge in pricing products?
How can you call it cheap labour when no software engineer gets less than Rs 5 lakh per annum? And, internationally, a labourer who works in the automobile sector or operates a power loom also gets the same benefits, doesn’t he? And nobody sells software because of the billing rates. It is the quality and character of the software that determines the price. It all depends on how you market the product. The biggest shortcoming in India has been marketing capability. What has driven the success of TCS? We were very clear about our vision and I had outlined it in my address to the Computer Society of India during my presidentship in 1975. I had said then that this is the technology in which we can not only hold our own but also excel and become world leaders. TCS was the first to come here (software services) and this helped to sort out several problems. The perception in some quarters within the country itself was not positive. It took three years for us to get our first computer for our
