India: Bigger Worries than a Bug

What with the hijacking and sporadic guerilla violence, the Y2K problem is taking a back seat in India. Besides, there are plenty of computer experts there to fix things. Mark Kessler reports from Bombay.

BOMBAY -- With a population exceeding 15 million, this bustling metropolis would seem to be the most likely place of any in India for Y2K concerns. However, like the rest of the country, nobody seems anxious in the least.

With the hijacking of an Indian Airlines jet, combined with fresh outbreaks of sectarian guerilla violence in the state of Kashmir as well as in neighboring Pakistan and Sri Lanka, talk of the Y2K problem is virtually non-existent.

For the record, both private companies and the Indian government are assuring a smooth and easy transition, even if few seem to take notice. Billboards and advertisements pepper Bombay's skyline, each guaranteeing that their company has thwarted Y2K problems.

Radheshyam Mopalwar, Deputy Director for the state government of Maharashtra's Information Technology department in Bombay, thinks that Y2K talk in India is a lot of hullabaloo with no substance. "The critical sectors in India have all been taken care of. We started tackling this in 1993," he said.

The Indian government's official Y2K Web site reiterates Mopalwar's sentiments. The site lists Y2K readiness for each of India's 25 states, as well as ensuring the Y2K compliance of 11 key sectors, including banking, electric and nuclear power, telecommunications, and transportation. A litany of information, freely downloadable products, and other Y2K resources are also provided.

India's financial markets also seem prepared for 2000. On Monday, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) announced that 21 of the country's 23 bourses were Y2K compliant, with the promise that the remaining two bourses in the cities of Jaipur and Guwahti "would become Y2K compliant very soon".

On Wednesday, the SEBI reported that 3,514 of India's 3,577 active brokers were Y2K ready. Those 63 negligent brokers were deactivated.

Further, India's National Stock Exchange (NSE) stated earlier this week it would be closed for trading from 31 December to 2 January. The NSE plans to spend the three-day weekend conducting mock trading sessions to test the Year 2000 readiness of its software applications, trader workstations, and back office systems.

For those still skeptical, Mopalwar stressed that India was a relative newcomer to the technological revolution. "India started really being heavily computerized only a few years ago," he said. "And most of the software applications we use aren't mission critical."

Because of this, India was able to rely on private companies such as Microsoft and Oracle to design downloadable software patches and bug fixes.

As for potential Y2K pitfalls in the United States, Mopalwar was equally unconcerned. "Half of the Y2K problem in the US was fixed by Indians. You have absolutely nothing to worry about," he said.