The software industry and India's economic development

: This paper assesses the contribution of software to India's economic development paying particular attention to the role of the software in the absorption of labour and the development of human capital in the Indian economy. India's specialisation in software has been driven by two sorts of wage advantages that have reinforced each other: the lower wages for Indian software developers relative to that of their US and European counterparts makes Indian software cheaper in global markets, while the higher wages earned by software professionals in India relative to that in other industrial sectors has ensured a steady stream of supply of software professionals. However, the impact of this growth has been limited to a small section of the Indian economy, and there are questions whether the current growth can be sustained without a significant growth of domestic demand. We believe that export led growth is sustainable in the medium term. On the other hand, the success of the sof...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2002
• Where: IEPOL
• Authors: Ashish Arora, Suma Athreye
• Keywords: IEPOL 2002, Indian Economy, Indian Software, Software