Raj to riches
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Raj to riches

In creating their 'brown Englishmen' Richard Wellesley and his fellow empire builders opened a network for the spread of modern ideas and economic advance which is now, 50 years after the end of colonial rule, having an increasing impact in India.

In the 18th century, the textile industry had demonstrated the power of mechanisation and industrialism to establish a commercial lead, with cloth from English mills reversing India's established trading lead.

Now, by fully exploiting the advances in road, rail and telegraph infrastructure introduced under British rule, and by applying a great deal of foresight, India has been able to steal a march on much of the developing world to become an information technology trail-blazer.

It possesses software engineers who are the envy of the world, and Bangalore is fast becoming the Silicon Valley of the East. The Indian economy is counting on information technology to create millions of new jobs and add billions of dollars to export earnings in the coming years.

The seeds of India's success lie in the post-Independence creation of a network of high-quality technical colleges. By spending more than two decades developing the requisite skills, contacts, policies and infrastructure, its skilled workforce has become a much sought-after commodity.

Such is the success, that it is predicted that even a tenfold increase in the number of trained computer professionals could be absorbed by the booming information technology sector.

Most of India’s top schools are now production lines for skilled computer and software workers. But many graduates still tend to head abroad to the United States and Europe, where Indian high-technology professionals are much in demand.

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