5 years ago...India creates 'Ministry of IT'

19.10.1999: The Indian government is to set up a Ministry of Information Technology to promote the internet and ecommerce.

The recently sworn-in Bharatiya Janta party-led coalition will use the ministry to govern the National Informatics Centre and the Electronics and Computer Software Export Promotion Council which, until now, was under the Commerce Ministry.

The ministry will be responsible for IT-related education and policy matters as well as the promotion of knowledge-based enterprises.

Meanwhile, Sun Microsystems is to expand its Bangalore office. Ed Zanders, president of Sun, told industry experts in Bombay of plans to hire 40 to 50 engineers this year - with the number growing to 100 by next year.

19.10.2004: India has benefited from the phenomenal rise in offshore outsourcing over the past five years.

The central and state government IT ministers have been key in promoting areas such as Bangalore, Hyderabad, New Delhi and Chennai as low-cost bases for Western companies to offshore IT work and take advantage of savings in labour costs.

The rise and rise of offshore outsourcing continues apace and silcon.com's fact-finding trip to India earlier this year took a look behind the hype and hysteria to get the real story.

The move to business process outsourcing (BPO) is the next big thing to hit the offshore market as companies move whole functions such as HR and finance overseas.

The challenge for India is whether it can retain its competitive first-mover advantage and fend off competition from the likes of China, Eastern Europe and South Africa.