No direct impact, but software industry is tense

Our eFE Bureaux in Bangalore/New Delhi

As the magnitude of the World Trade Centre attack sinks in, the Indian software industry that has nearly 3 lakh technology professionals working in the USA is tense. There does seem to be an underlying sense of relief with almost all companies —- except Wipro which has four people missing —- claiming that all employees were safe. Frantic efforts though are on to ensure the safety of people posted in the US.

However, while there are business concerns, several companies are keen to play a pro-active role by contributing what effort they can make to help rescue and aid workers.

‘‘It is too premature to guess the imact of this horrible incident. This is a time when we must put business predictions aside and focus on coping with the tragedy. The need of the hour for Infosys is to help its customers get on their feet again. Infact we have announced to all our employees to donate blood and volunteer to help,’’ Infosys managing director Nandan Nilekani said.

Terming it a ‘‘global disaster’’ and a ‘‘horrible, horrible tragedy’’, players like Infosys say this is a time for everyone to come together to assist their customers and public. On the impact on India and the global markets, mixed reactions were obtained. While some players feel this will have significant impact on the Indian market, others point to more of an indirect impact but mention that the Indian market in particular would settle down.

Cisco Systems (India) Pvt Ltd vice president and head (India global development center) Mr S Devarajan said Cisco CEO John Chambers had issued a personal message to all Cisco employees globally. Cisco has set up a 24 hour contact center in the area that will offer free
communication services to people.

‘‘This will definitely have an impact on the global market. But on India specifically I feel there will be more of an indirect impact. But once the dust settles, things in India should be stable,’’ Mr Devarajan said.
A grim iVega Corporation CEO Giri Devanur said the loss of working days and complete shut down would be the short term impact, but the long term effect could not be gauged at the moment. ‘‘The impending meltdown will most certainly have a direct impact on India,’’ he said.

‘‘We are obviously shocked like the rest of the world by the attacks on the US. However, none of our employees were in proxmity to the region of attack. But we are at the moment trying to establish links with all our friends in the US especially in the financial circle who were working in the damage zone. The impact is likely to be felt in sectors like insurance etc, however we do not anticipate any major direct impact on the sectors like telecom, etc,’’ according to Mr Swaminathan Krishnan, chief marketing officer Sasken.