Tata Consultancy Services deputy chairman F.C. Kohli, is widely acknowledged as the 'Father of the Indian Software Industry'. He took charge of the company in 1969 and is credited with growing it into one of the largest information technology firms in India. Bestowed with numerous awards, Kohli is also associated with many professional bodies like Nasscom and the Computer Society of India.

Excerpts of a detalied interview with our correspondents Arun Kumar and Siddharth Zarabi.

The Indian infotech industry will have to keep on learning at a much faster pace. What was new last year is obsolete now. So, while I am not at all concerned with the current slump, my biggest worry is that we do not have a strong domestic hardware sector. That is the saddest part as hardware and software are two sides of the same coin. It is because of the lack of a vibrant hardware industry that computerisation within the country has not yet fully taken off.

To add to this, we have no domain knowledge in manufacturing or other industries. So, we are not able to develop and sell products at a global level.

But, since we have bright and knowledgeable people, we can build software engineering tools that enhance productivity. Essentially, we write software to produce more software.

On the darker side, the type of software we have been developing so far, will face much more global competition. This is because other countries have begun to catch on. Therefore, we must aim to move up to the more complex end of software, which requires more mathematics, logic and domain knowledge, which is a strong point with us. This will also guarantee better revenues and margins for the entire industry.

No. This country needs many more computers. A country of one billion imports only 1.5 million personal computers (PC) every year as compared to world production of 40 million . Therefor it is necessary to manufacture computers within India. We need more than 5 million computers every year. It is for the country to decide - whether we should keep on importing and how much computerisation we actually need to undertake. If we do not, we will be left behind in the global infotech revolution.

So what can we do. I suggest that we follow the Malaysian model, where large PC makers like Dell have set up manufacturing facilities.

We must roll out the red carpet and invite manufacturers to set up similar facilities in India.

I also believe that we need to push for developing more digital equipment in India. This industry revolves around three pillars - automated design engineering, adding functionality on

chips and chip fabrication. The first two can be done within the country, while fabrication should be outsourced as we do not possess cutting edge technology and economies of scale.

India has the best quality of people. We must harness that talent and focus on micro-electronics. Last year, we produced only 130 engineers in this field. The government must select 100 engineering colleges and invest money to produce at least 3000 such professionals.

Just like we started producing software engineers, such an initiative will provide a push to hardware. As people realise that India is producing many more micro electronic engineers every year, they will come here.