There are some facts that make India very interesting to study. In one side, India is considered 
today as the second largest country in population in the world, a country with the highest number 
of unemployment’s people, a country with more than 400 million people living with less than US$1 
per day, a country with 36% of the poor people in the world, and 20% of the world’s out-of-school children. However, at the same time India has been focus of study from many developed and developing countries for their rapid growing and leading position in the software field around the 
world.

 IT Quality Factors

International standards are considered today as the essential requirement to compete in international markets. India has 42 companies satisfying the international software standards from the Software Engineering Institute - Capability Maturity Model (SEI CMM) Level 5 from the total of 62 in the world, representing 68 percent of the total number of companies. Also, 316 Indian software companies have acquired quality certifications. Indian IT companies serve more than 50% of the Fortune companies.

 Tax Incentives

The Indian government is promoting activities that leverage social and economic development through tax incentives. For example, there is a ten-year tax holiday for ventures engaged in developing and/or operating an infrastructure facility, a ten-year tax holiday for companies that generate and/or distribute power, a five-year tax holiday for telecom activities including Internet services and broadband networks, and a five-year tax holiday for other new industries. Also, companies under the umbrella of software technology parks (STP) get additional benefits [3] as follows:

-          100% foreign equity permitted;

-          Duty free import;

-          Corporate income tax exempted up to 90%;

-          Dedicated data communication links; and

-          Export certification at a single point.

 Human Pool

Human resources are considered India’s most important asset. Education is regarded as a leverage point, summarized in the following statements [4]:

-          India has around 250 universities and 11,549 colleges.

-          India has nearly 600,000 IT professionals.

-          India has the second largest English speaking population in the world. Indian engineers use English as a first language.

-          India is recognized for its strong education system, which emphasizes mathematical and logical reasoning.

 In summary, India is leading the world software industry because the country identified critical requirements and has invested necessary resources in terms of people, time and money along with a consistent government policy that fosters the foreign IT industry.

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 References

[1] CIA- The Word FactBook 2002. http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/in.html.

[2] Nasscom-McKinsey. Strategic Review 2002. 

[3] Nasscom. Please visit http//www.nasscom.com for detail information.

[4] http://www.infosys.com

 To contact author please send e-mail to grueda@pdx.edu

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