India’s Software Industry: Politics, Institutions and Policy Shifts

The book looks into the political economy dynamics of policy shifts in India’s computer software industry. To explain the growth trajectory, the critical role of state and corporate players and the alliance between the two has been taken into account. The explanations are in conjunction with the frameworks provided by theories of comparative political economy that seek to situate policy and institutional change within the broader context of state-society networking. The central argument that emerge from the discussions is that the software and IT policies are an outcome of a close-knit, corporatist interaction between state and private sector but one in which the state plays the lead role.
Book Endorsements
This volume offers a comprehensive analysis of the software and computer industry. It also examines in detail the role of government policies, the interaction between shifts in technology commercialisation and its political influence. An excellent summary of the technology growth story that has broadened the opportunities for many industries in India.
Prof. Vidhu Verma
Centre for Political Studies
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
This well-written book based on extensive research tells the story of the development of India’s software and services industry against the backdrop of globalization. Following a political economy approach it clearly shows how software and IT policies are an outcome of corporatist interaction between the state and the private sector. It is the first-of-its-kind study of institutional change that has supported technocratic growth by analysing institutional innovations like STP, TRAI, and Cyber security regime and the IT ministry and will be of interest to scholars, bureaucrats and lay readers.
Prof. Sudha Pai
Centre for Political Studies
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
This is an important book in a neglected area the political economy of India’s industrial reforms. The Indian economy has transformed itself and this process has much to do with politics and institutional change. Few authors have attempted to address this issue as Siddhartha Mukerji has.
Prof. Rahul Mukherji
Head, Department of Political Science
South Asia Institute
Heidelberg University, Germany