Bangalore: Lack of innovation, lack of uniqueness and lack of distinguishing factors among the individual companies could be hindering the growth of the Indian software industry in the global market, according to a consensus reached during a hour-long discussion on "Software Engineering Innovation: How can India be the leader?".

The panel discussion from experts in the field was organised by IT major Infosys Technologies at its headquarters in Electronic City. The discussion touched on the reasons for India not having emerged as a world-leader despite a major foray in this segment by many companies.

"The lack of presentation of quality papers in the international fora on the topic of software innovation has also contributed to the Indian industry not cutting a good edge globally," one of the speakers opined.

Prof S Sadagopan, director, IIIT Bangalore; Prof Pankaj Jalote, professor & head, IIT Kanpur; Deependra Moitra, general manager (Engineering), Lucent Technologies Ltd and member, IEEE Software Editorial Board; Prof Bimal Roy, Professor-in-Charge (ASU), ISI, Calcutta; Dr A L Rao, president, Telecom and Internetworking Solutions, WIPRO Technologies Ltd and Satyendra Kumar, vice-president, head -quality and productivity, Infosys Technologies Ltd were the panelists for the topic of discussion.

Dr Ramkumar Principal Researcher, Software Engineering & Technology Labs, mediated the discussion. Earlier, eminent scientist and physicist Dr Raja Ramanna released the book: " The Art and Technology of Software Engineering: A Mosaic of Models and Methods".

In his keynote address, Dr Raja Ramanna, director, National Institute of Advanced Studies and Member of the Rajya Sabha gave his unique insights into the nature of Quantum Computers and its future. The panel discussion was held on the occasion of the launch of the book.