Bangalore: Chairman of software major Wipro, Azim Premji, on November 21 said India has the edge in becoming a major global IT outsourcing centre but warned that the poor infrastructure could act as a major deterrent to it.

"At a national level, we need to get our act together quickly," he told "The Global Outsourcing Forum 2002", organised by the International Data Corporation (IDC) India.

He said it must be ensured that power reliability went up significantly, that the telecom costs which were double those of US should come down to become internationally competitive and that the manpower resources for outsourcing was augmented by setting up adequate vocational training centres.

Premji said countries like Ireland, which had been a major outsourcing center, had outpriced itself with limited manpower. But, he said, China and the Philippines posed serious competition in the long run because of the cost of their large pool of manpower.

China, he said, had launched a major drive to upgrade its language skills by introducing English in schools and colleges, set up over 50 technology parks, cut down telecom costs and assured greater than 99.8 per cent power reliability.

Premji however noted that the Indian software industry had certain distinct advantages in becoming an outsourcing partner.

India, he said, had the second largest technical resource pool, after the US, strong English speaking capability, high emphasis on quality processes, well-developed infrastructure for software development and knowledge of new generation technologies.

PTI