Intel Corporation president and chief executive, Craig Barrett, arrived in India on October 26, 1998, for a two-day visit. He said his firm had set up a venture capital fund for India, which has already taken equity in one firm and plans to do so in six other high-tech start-up firms in the country. These companies are mainly providers of value-added software. He however ruled out setting up a chip manufacturing plant in India. In his discussions with India’s Information Technology Task Force he said that entry of hardware, software and technology in to the country would have to be made much easier if India were to become a global power in this sector. India’s levies an import duty of 25% on microprocessors as compared to China’s 6%. He also recommended that India should develop value-added software applications for internet, implement zero duty component building blocks to reduce cost while increasing reliability for network connectivity. Dr Barrett said India should concentrate on development of value-added leading edge software, tools and processors rather than enhancement of exiting software.
