Publication: Leapfrogging? India's Information Technology Industry and the Internet
Date
2001-05
ISSN
Published
2001-05
Author(s)
Miller, Robert R.
Abstract
The Internet has been seen by numerous
observers, as a set of technologies that might enable
developing countries to "leapfrog" over the
development path, taken by industrial countries, enabling
poorer countries to increase their rates of growth, and
"catch up" sooner. Using India as a case study,
this paper reviews the degree to which that promise might be
realized. The paper concludes that while internet
development in India is still at a very early stage in terms
of numbers of connections, and overall use, the promise it
offers for increased productivity, and economic growth, is
likely to be significant. Most benefits are likely to come
from business use of the internet for both internal control,
and for dealing with business customers, not from customer
use. In particular, global connections will be much enhanced
by India's liberalized access to international internet
gateways, and to privately-provided undersea cable access.
This access alone could offer Indian companies, business
opportunities that otherwise would flow to other, better
connected Asian competitors. However, poor infrastructure,
along with low public investment, remains a difficult
problem to overcome. And, although technical education has
been a bright spot, India's overall educational
attainment is low in demographic terms, and illiteracy will
critically limit "leapfrogging" the anticipated
expansion of the internet. Rather, economic growth depends
on complementary interactions between the private sector,
and the government's adequate provision of public goods.
Citation
“Miller, Robert R.. 2001. Leapfrogging? India's Information Technology Industry and the Internet. IFC Discussion Paper;No. 42. © Washington, DC: World Bank and the International Finance Corporation. http://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/13954?locale-attribute=es License: CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO.”