What is the level of awareness about the Y2K issue in India?

I am afraid that the awareness among most companies is very low. Hardly few companies are undertaking compliance projects but even then I suspect the credibility of the claims. However, the MNCs in India have shown the way; big names have been working on the issue for some time and they are fully confident now.

I was amazed to see the strategy and methodologyprepared for Castrol and HLL by experts abroad.

Let's look at the issue from another angle. As everybody thinks, Y2K is not a hardware and software problem, it's more a business problem. Many companies believe by using modern software and hardware, they are playing it safe. No, if you look at certificates provided by Microsoft or any other companies, they are all compliant subject to so many conditions. You have to understand the magnitude of the issue from your environment and business. In India, the main hurdle is the flow of communication between various executing wings of a company. There is no free flow of information from a department head to the actual grassroot man who executes the project. President Clinton is in charge of the issue in the US, while many European minister-level officials look into the matter in Europe. Despite such urgency, quite a few companies are likely to go bankrupt.

How compliant are Indian companies?

Large companies have achieved some progress but it's mediumand small scale companies which will bear the brunt. I spoke to one large automotive company, which said it was fully compliant but was unaware of whether any of its 3000 dealers is compliant. I think quite a few PSUs the in oil sector have made some progress in this direction. Thanks to the Union budget, the graveness of the issue is really percolating. The Government has taken a good step in exempting Y2K expenditure. But more will have to be done. Banking is one sector pushing hard. This sector would have been the worst hit by the Y2K bug after the manufacturing segment. The Reserve Bank has been seized of the seriousness and we can expect quite an improvement in the sector. Quite a lot has been done by many but believe me, that's not enough. I believe that April-September 1999 will see lot of companies going all out to rectify the issue. They must make use of helplines like CMC Ltd's official Government of India help desk. Estimates have shown that India will have to spend somewhere in the region of Rs2,000 crore for the project.

What are the dangers of non-compliance?

India's credit rating will take a deep dive. Our standing and business and trade will be hit hard. Countries and companies will refuse to do business with us. It will be a real tragedy. The World Bank has given Level-3 rating for India for the compliance level, indicating moderate awareness and implementation of few projects.

Looking at the origin of the issue, who is to blame-the computer companies or programmers?

I think computer manufacturers must take their share of blame since nothing was done to rectify the Y2K problem embedded in the hardware. In fact, in 1992, Dallas Semiconductors had come out with a chip, which had a real time clock (RTC) set in four digits. Full acceptance of this practice would have helped the hardware problem. But for its high cost and poor market acceptance, nothing happened.

Even today, no PC-maker is claiming that he is Y2K compliant. They merely flaunt certificates or citationissued by NSTL or some others to show that they use standard devices and hence not affected. One will have to take a real hard look at these claims.

Then comes the software part. Most operating system (OS) manufacturers are not compliant and suggest downloadable patches to solve the bug once when found out. They could have taken much care while programming the OS.

What is the methodology of fixing Y2K?

Fixing is a series of processes; planning, inventory, impact analysis, actual fixing, testing and contingency. Testing is the most crucial aspect as it amounts to 50 per cent of every Y2K project. Test key functions, test your vital processes, hardware, software, integration, test and test till you are satisfied that the system is compliant and can now move to the new millennium.

After integration tests with other systems in your environment, do the testing with your dealers, clients and anybody linked to you in business. Remember, failure on the part of any one in the chain can causelosses.

Even at this late stage, What are the salvaging measures?

It may be little late but nevertheless organisations must now go for compliance of minimum and critical operations. Those crucial activities must be foolproof. I advise companies to focus on process compliance and make a contingency plan. I stress on a back-up in case of a system failure so that critical applications are not affected. We are far behind in understanding the extent of the issue, forget compliance or fixing. Only a miracle can save us.