Two billionnaires and counting

Software in India is really-really big. We already have two billion dollar
companies–TCS last year and now Infosys. In addition, analysts expect that
Wipro will also join this exalted league when the company announces its annual
result later this month.

There is one common thread running through these three biggies–software
exports. Yes, software exports is the engine which is fuelling this amazing
growth. Which in turn is giving enormous benefits to the government, employees,
shareholders as well as the nation as a whole.

Just look at the stunning results announced by Infosys. It became the first
listed Indian infotech company to cross the billion dollar mark. It not only
announced an unprecedented dividend of Rs 129.50 per share, but also rewarded
its shareholders with a bonus issue of three shares for every one held. And
after this bonus, the original 100 shares bought by an investor at the time of
the IPO of Infosys now aggregate 6,400. And at the current market price of Rs
5,490 a share, the initial investment of Rs 9,500 is worth Rs 88 lakh today.

No wonder, software export companies are today the darling of the investors
as well as the government. And why shouldn’t they be when the overall software
exports from the country have been growing at a compound annual growth rate of
over 50 percent for the last 10 years. No other industry can boast of such a
record.

Interestingly, this growth has not come from just some small Indian companies
involved in low-level work like COBOL coding. Some of the biggest MNCs have set
up their software development centers in the country. And the work getting done
here is cutting edge software development to be used in products not even
launched in the international markets.

Indian software is up there with the best in the world in terms of quality.
But it is available at a price that is amongst the lowest in the world–an
unbeatable combination that not too many companies have been able to resist.
Quality has almost become a mantra with the Indian software industry. Little
wonder that an overwhelming majority of the companies involved in the software
export business already have a SEI certification. And those who don’t have it
yet, are in various stages of acquiring the same.