In software, fortunately, the dead hand of trade unions and the militant labour culture has not penetrated. "Certainly I live, dream and breathe are open for making a software company more and more successful. Our offices are open 24 hours a day, you get breakfast, lunch and dinner. We have created an environment where it is possible to live, breathe and dream software all the time. A few generations will have to work 20 hour days and 18 hour days. That is a small sacrifice that we have to make so that our children and our grand children will get a better quality of life, so that no child in India will be without access to education, shelter and food." Mr. N. R. Narayana Murthy said, in an interview in Times of India on 13 July. Fortunately thanks to the liberating effect of IT and concepts like Small Office Home Office (SOHO) operations, this danger of the mal-effects of trade unionism can be avoided. Software and IT are primarily designed to give full opportunities for individuals to flourish.

Contrast this with the attitude of the traditional industrialists of the old economy. They have been able to thrive in the four decades of permit licence raj. All the political rhetoric since Independence has focused on eradication of poverty. In this age of globalisation, having failed in our socialist strategies to eradicate poverty, we should give an opportunity to the philosophy of creating wealth. Software is a classic industry where wealth is created by merit alone. In the old economy, bankers would look for safety in investment, whereas in the new economy, venture capitalists and angel funds, rush where the old bankers would fear to tread.

There are some who consider that the Indian IT industry is flourishing because government did not mess up with it. Fortunately, this argument is not valid for IT. The ministry of information technology (MIT) in its earlier avatar as Department of Electronics had struck a strategic alliance with the industry and provided critical infrastructure like earth stations for high speed communication and the right policy package. Everyone in the IT industry is aware of this fact though those outside this sector may not be aware of the critical role played by the Department of Electronics.