India's software sector hampered by software patents

["Sylvain Perchaud" <sylvain@europe-shareware.org>]

In the #47 issue of the AcComex economic journal (french journal), the
economist Diana Hochraich has written an article about the strengths and
weaknesses of India's economy (titled: "Atouts et contraintes de
l'économie indienne").

Even though India exports many software or software-related products
(services related to software have shown an average growth rate of 30%
per year during the mid-1990s), economic data show that the software
sector's contribution to the commercial balance is only modest because
India must import many patents.


Here's a quote (in french):
  « Dès le milieu des années quatre-vingt dix, les exportations
    des services de technologie d'information ont connu une
    croissance de 30% l'an, poussant la progression de l'ensemble
    des services à  un rythme annuel de 22%. Mais le contenu en
    importations des exportations du secteur était relativement
    élevé du fait de l'importation de brevets. Au total, les
    exportations de logiciels - qui ne représentent que 10% du
    montant total des exportations de biens - ont une contribution
    modeste au solde commercial. »


You can also find this article in the #2796 issue of the french magazine
"Problèmes Économiques" (this magazine is published by "La Documentation
Française", a department of the French Prime Minister).
--
Sylvain Perchaud
Tel: +33 (0) 674 758 551
http://www.europe-shareware.org