Bangalore: India is currently definitely shining in the telecom sector but foundation for its growth was laid in mid-1980s, Sam Pitroda, a key man behind India's telecom revolution, said today (Apr 5, 2004).

"In telecom, India has done well. It has made significant progress. I would not like to take away anything from that. I am happy about it," he said responding to questions at a news conference he addressed at the Congress office in Bangalore.

"But it does not happen without foundation, without training 1000s and 1000s of engineers. Seeds were planted in 1980s. Those were difficult days," said Pitroda, who was Rajiv Gandhi's telecom advisor from 1984 to 1989.

Pitroda said while now tens of thousands of engineers are available, when he visited Bangalore in 1983 to set up an office for C-DOT, he could not find one digital communications engineer with qualification and experience.