Gupta, who was in Pune to participate in Update 99, a conference to mark the foundation day of the Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), Pune, urged local IT companies to have closer ties with silicon valley companies for promoting exports and creating a market for the country's products and services.

The DoE had asked Nasscom to submit a paper on ways to promote the Indian brand abroad.

Nasscom president Dewang Mehta said strategies suggested were creation of a mega web site for Indian products, conducting frequent road shows in US and Europe and promoting 10 world class Indian products in the initial phase. Speaking at the conference, AKChakravarti, advisor-IT, DoE, said that a group has been set up to look into the problem of internet domain name management which was vital to the growth of E-commerce.

Speaking on `Effectiveness of Computerisation in Security of Financial Institutions' N Vittal, central vigilance commissioner, said that the country lacked a basic legal framework for the electronic business and the government should issue an ordinance for cyber laws. Vittal urged the Government to issue an ordinance for cyber laws. For the last one and half year, the Government has the draft legislation for cyber laws, but with the vicissitudes of parliamentary democracy, the bill has not been introduced. It is better that such an ordinance be issued now when Parliament is not in session, he said, explaining that if such an ordinance is issued, the six-month period will expire by mid-November and by the time the new Parliament will be in position. The fact that an ordinance has been issued will bring in automatic pressures for legislation,he said.

The Central Vigilance Commissioner was of the opinion that computerisation could be of immense value in preventing frauds and corruption in the banking and financial sector. "All banking companies and financial institutions under the purview of the CVC will have to compulsorily offer electronics clearance services to their customers with immediate effect," Vittal said. He blamed the lack of communication between banks on defaults and frauds and has urged all banks to report willful defaults of Rs 25 lakhs and above to RBI which will circulate the information every three months. This data can be accessed by banks when the WAN is installed.