INDIA'S TECH SECTOR A BLAST FROM THE PAST

...eyes on the road, and your hands upon the wheel...

- Pravir Ganguly

When I got into the driver's seat DQ was already established as the most popular tech-business publication in the subcontinent. The followers' (readership) were probably more than that of St. Greta of the Carbon Emissions Cathedral. I'm talking early 1990s. Moreover, unlike WhatsApp University grads that constitute the bulk of 'followers' in this day and age, our readers comprised entrepreneurs, visionaries, CXOS, policy makers, techies - people who were also 'influencers' as well as the architects of India's tech industry as we know it today.

This was the time when Nagarajan Vittal was appointed Secretary to the Department of Electronics. An IAS from the Gujarat cadre he moved from the DoT to the DoE. N Vittal and DQ enjoyed a warm and friendly relationship through his tenure and even when he assumed the role of CVC subsequently. Meetings and exchange of ideas had become a regular thing. Regarded as an honest-to-god man of action since his early days as an IAS officer, N Vittal provided the much needed impetus towards liberalization of the Indian IT & Telecom sector. At the same time, it was also felt by the industry that given the Government's lack of understanding of the tech business, it would be best if the sector remained largely unregulated for the initial few years. Anyhow all this led to the Government finally realizing the enormous software export potential India possessed. An ambitious target of US$400 million looked achievable. NASSCOM which till then had been lurking in some basement in Lodhi Road upped and set up shop at the Ashoka Hotel. The rest as you know is history.