'Quality is India's ropeway to wealth'

India lost the race to China and Asian tigers in manufacturing as they were more fleet footed. India had been comfortable with the domestic market size. Now, we have an opportunity to make a mark in services. We missed the bus once and we cannot afford to miss it again," said Sandip Das, deputy managing director, Hutchison Essar and co-chairman of the Annual Service Quality Conclave (ASQC) 2006.

Are we ready to be services superpower? "For this we need quality," said Das.

The 'low-cost' reputation of the country is not sustainable, thanks to competition from other low-cost countries like the Philippines, Mauritius and the East European countries.

It is the strong markets alone that can help the services sector grow. There is hence a need for selective outsourcing.

India has to make a choice and look at the services sector as the ropeway to wealth. Standardisation and differentiation are what the industry requires and we have to start with quality.

While brand China is known for low-cost, brand Japan for quality, Italy for style, Singapore for cleanliness and India should be known for quality, he stated.