Bangalore, Nov 2: "Karnataka is not only the leader in the space, but also in cyber space.'' ``Bangalore is and always will be the Silicon Capital of India and the Silicon Valley of India''. Both these statements drew thunderous applause from IT leaders, at the Bangalore IT.Com '99 meet, here on Monday.Billed as the biggest ever IT fair, Bangalore IT.Com has attracted over 300 overseas firms and is expected to witness business transactions to the tune of $ 125 million over the next five days. It is expected to attract 40,000 business visitors and over two lakh domestic visitors.The US Ambassador to India, Richard Celeste was the first person to acknowledge Karnataka's strength. He didn't stop at that, but went on to state that the best brains came from India like N R Narayana Murthy of Infosys Technologies and Gururaj Desh Despande.At the same time, Infosys Technologies Managing Director Nandan M Nilekani responded by saying that they are ready to provide support, input and resources to start-up ventures to keep the Bangalore flag flying high.Celeste in his address said ``Karnataka is the corner stone of the IT silicon triangle. It is ready, willing and wired. India will be a global power in the IT sector,'' he cautioned others.According to him, the only thing that bonds India with the US is information technology, wherein American markets were flooded with software professionals from India. ``The only constraint they face is with regard to bandwidth and H1-B visas. We are planning to increase both the bandwidth speed and number of visas.''``India is now in the forefront of the IT sector, but it is doubtful whether it would be able to keep up the tempo. In the IT sector, time and quality play a major role. The other major drawback is in the area of education. The government should take IT education to rural areas,'' he pointed out.Government of India's IT Secretary P V Jayakrishna said Bangalore IT.Com should be recognised at the international level like Comdex and CeBit fairs. He hoped that cyberlaws and the recommendations of the IT Task Force on hardware and software components, will be in place within the next few weeks.The Chairman of Electronics Software Council of India, Vivek Singhal said a 16-member Chinese delegation is likely to visit India during mid-November to explore business opportunities and tie-ups. UTI and Satyam computers were floating venture capital funds for the IT sector. The community should take advantage of this.
