Premji bets on the home ground advantage-Internet users to grow from 2.3 mil in 99 to 70 mil 2003.
Our Mumbai Bureau
1 November
THE Indian information technology (IT) industry may be making waves internationally, but for Azim Premji (http://www.wipro.com/), the chairman of Wipro Corporation, it is the domestic market and the huge Internet opportunity which count more.
While delivering the inaugural address at the Computer Society of India's 34th annual convention in Mumbai today, Mr Premji outlined his vision for the domestic IT industry.
"While the spotlight has been on IT exports, especially software exports, I see an unprecedented opportunity within India as well," Mr Premji said.
The biggest driver for this opportunity, according to Mr Premji, will be the proliferation of the Internet. Quoting a study done by Goldman Sachs, Mr Premji said, "The number of Internet users in India in '99 will be around 2.3m, which is expected to explode to 70m by 2003." This represents a compounded annual growth rate of of 130 per cent from '98 to 2003, "the highest rate of growth in Asia."
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