India's Silicon Valley or Silicon Valley's India? Socially Embedding the Computer Software Industry in Bangalore

Abstract

Since the 1980s, the changing character of the Indian state has allowed it to move away from a highly regulated, autarkic development model to pursue lighter regulation and closer integration with the global economy. This move created the incentives for India‚s emergence as a leading software exporter. Within India, Bangalore emerged as the leading software–producing region and the large number of domestic and foreign firms there has led to popular references to it as India‚s Silicon Valley. This essay, however, argues that referring to Bangalore as Silicon Valley‚s India is more appropriate, as it struggles to transform itself from a region that develops software for global markets to one that defines new products and technologies. Driving the growth of the Indian software industry is the export of labour–intensive services, while the relatively small and slow–growing domestic market has limited the nurturing of original ideas. The essay explains the limitations in terms of social constraints on the state despite its changed character. The analysis of how changing state–society relations have shaped the software industry in Bangalore provides a means of addressing debates on the importance of social embeddedness in agglomeration and late industrialization in newly industrializing countries. Depuis les années 1980 et le changement de nature de l'Etat indien, ce dernier s'éloigne d'un modèle de développement autarcique très réglementé, allant vers un contrô le allégé et une intégration plus étroite à l'économie mondiale. Cette évolution a suscité des mesures d'incitation favorisant l'émergence de l'Inde comme premier exportateur de logiciels. Dans le pays, c'est la région de Bangalore qui est en tête de la production de logiciels, et la concentration d'entreprises nationales et étrangères y est connue sous le nom de `Silicon Valley indienne'. Pourtant, `l'Inde de la Silicon Valley' conviendrait mieux, puisque la région s'efforce de passer du développement de logiciels destinés à des marchés mondiaux à la définition de nouveaux produits et technologies. La dynamique du secteur indien des logiciels tient a` l'exportation de services demandeurs de main‐d'uvre, tandis que le marché intérieur, relativement restreint et à croissance lente, a limité les sources d'idées originales. L'article explique les limitations en termes de contraintes sociales sur l'Etat malgré sa nouvelle nature. Analyser comment les relations Etat‐société et leur évolution ont modelé l'industrie des logiciels à Bangalore permet ainsi d'aborder le débat sur l'importance de l'intégration sociale dans une agglomération et une industrialisation tardive propres aux pays d'industrie récente.

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