Quotes from the summit

NASSCOM 2008: INDIA LEADERSHIP FORUM

STATE of IT
Without hiding his delight at the sight of a packed auditorium and many participants standing in the aisles, Nasscom Chairman Lakshmi Narayanan said, "The seats are full today, a reflection of how our IT industry is growing rapidly and infrastructure is not able to keep pace with it."

On SPECTRUM
On being asked whether there would be a lowering of spectrum charges, Union Minister for Communications and IT, A Raja, said, "Pricing will be decided by competition."

On IT SECURITY
"We need to strengthen the IT Act 2000 and give it more teeth," said Raja. "We have already gone through the consultative process and soon we can expect a more robust regulation that will add to our cyber security muscle, protect intellectual property and help combat piracy. We are hopeful of tabling these changes in the next session of parliament and see the revised IT Act become a reality."

On INNOVATION
"When I look at a product like Zune, or other path-breaking applications like software on demand, I always wonder why these products could not come from India," said Anand Mahindra, vice-chairman and MD, Mahindra & Mahindra.

"While everybody is talking about innovation, I think we need to ask ourselves: Have we really been innovative enough to change the rules of the game? Very recently, an Indian auto company did this with the Nano."

"Companies need to keep three things in mind when talking on innovation," said Ginni Rometty, senior vice-president, global business services, IBM. "One, they need to embrace business model innovations. Two, they should look at talent in a new way and three, create a new mindset to fuel innovation."