State and the software: public policies in the shaping of the Indian software sector

This paper attempts to argue that the emergence of a diverse and dominant software (SW) services industry in India is facilitated to a large extent by the range of policies and initiatives undertaken by the Indian State. In addition to a series of sector-specific policy initiatives and promotional schemes, the positive interplay among the trade, technological and tariff policies did contribute to the emergence of the SW services sector. The authors also argue that the overall liberalisation project initiated in the early 1990s, by way of initiating a distinct export orientation to economic thinking, did contribute to the sector's emergence.