COMPUTER POLICY 73
systems at exhorbitant prices. Even the systems so leased, were reconditioned and obsolete systems. This restricted the use of computers to very few universities and organisations. With IBM's departure, the computer market opened up with the marketing of the latest systems at much lower price from companies like Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), Control Data Corporation (CDC), Sperry etc. And unlike IBM, the computers were available for outright sale. Almost simultaneous to the opening of the above market, the ubiquitious microprocessor and microcomputer systems made their appearance. By mid 70s, the microprocessors had been developed with the computing power of an earlier generation of computers. Large scale integration (LSI) made possible the packaging this power on a small silver of silicon, the size of a thumbnail. In the West, innovative companies like Apple and Sinclair moved into produce the personnel computer (PC) systems based on the microprocessors. A large amount of software was also developed for snch systems.
In India, a large number of companies saw that the personal computer systems, with minor modifications, could be introduced as small business machines. While ECIL and ICIM concentrated on the big end of the market, HCL, DCM, ORG, etc., sought to develop the small business machine sector in the country.
The Department of Electronics had built an elaborate set of controls to protect this fledgeling computer industry. In fact India developed the most elaborate set of controls for any developing country2 where the purpose of installing a computer had also to be established before permission would be given for installation. Any computer import over Rs. 5 lakhs, could be done by DOE only, a process, quite often too lengthy and complicated to be consummated. While the physical controls created by DOE did shelter the Indian industry, it resulted in an extremely narrow base, both in terms of production and in terms of the market. As we shall see, the policy also resulted in an extremely distorted development of the industry itself.
The computer manufacture can be divided into four following constituent sections, a) Chip-making, b) Peripheral Manufacture, c) Software, d) Assembly, System Integration and Testing. Both chip-making and peripheral manufacture, demand large volumes to be. viable. Further the pace of development is so fast that products face rapid obsolescence. The software tor the Indian Computers have also been generally "lifted" from the software developed for the PC Systems abroad. Only in assembly, system integration and testing, have the Indian companies built up some capabilities. As thip following Table (Table-1) indicates, the value added to the system is small particularly in hardware terms. As software costs are quite often hidden in other costs, it is difficult to estimate the true cost of value added in terms of software.