Growth Spurt

“ALL the strengths of IBM Corp are present in India,” says Annaswamy. “Not least of which is our strength in being a Western company, and in being perceived as such. It gives us greater access to customers, and before others, because the comfort factor is clearly in our favour.”

Besides, the numbers favour IBM like nothing else. In June 2006, IBM’s Chairman and CEO Sam Palmisano addressed 10,000 employees in Bangalore over videoconference, in an effort to demonstrate the company’s commitment to India. “If you are not here in India, making the right investments and finding and developing the best employees and business partners,” Palmisano said at the conference, “then you won’t be able to combine the skills and expertise here with skills and expertise from around the world, in ways that can help our clients be successful.”

Success is crucial to Palmisano and IBM, but not just because there is big money to be made in India in the high-tech or the domestic business. More importantly, IBM has decided it is not going to “miss the Indian opportunity” because of the tremendous growth rates it has been seeing here.

Back in the United States, where IBM is headquartered and churns out its long-term strategy, the verdict for biggest growth in the future has been spelled out as resting on only four economies: Brazil, Russia, India and China, the BRIC countries. Of these four, India has been growing the fastest, at 45 per cent year-on-year in 2004 and now at 55 per cent year-on-year, in 2005.

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