Let me begin on a contrarian note. The concept of the "digital divide" as it is understood today is somewhat passé. The term, which has been around for over a decade, has traditionally come to indicate a division in society between the technological "haves" and the "have-nots". The problem with this definition is that it is based on developed country measurement models such as individual ownership of hardware, connectivity and so on.

This creates a bias against developing countries like India, where it resources are typically shared, and ends up providing a misleading picture of the diffusion of ICT (information and communication technologies) within such societies. In fact, trends over the past few years raise doubts over whether the term is relevant in the Indian context-the sheer pace at which private initiative in it and telecom has transformed India's access to information through digital means has been breathtaking.

This velocity of change has generated a "digital multiplier" that has ensured a fairly robust diffusion of ICT access. India is far more digitally empowered than what the statistics suggest. With the information highway pretty much wired up, private competition has resulted in the distribution of ICT at rock-bottom rates. Consider this: today, cable and satellite television is available for next to nothing. From having some of the highest telecom tariffs in the world just 15 years ago, India now figures among the lowest, thanks in no small part to competitive mobile access.

Mobile telephony, a showcase for the twin benefits of open regulation and foreign direct investment, is a perfect example of the efficient diffusion of ICT in India. Tele-density in India has jumped from 0.5 per cent in 1989 to nearly 8 per cent in 2004, nearly all of it a result of the growth in the market for mobile phones, which have overtaken fixed line phones in numbers and made India one of the world's fastest growing telecom markets.

Critics will point to the abysmal levels of pc penetration and tele-density in rural India. Often overlooked in this maze of statistics is the great leap rural telephony has made over the past five years through the introduction of the Public Call Office. Today, as a result, more than 60 per cent of the villages in India have at least one phone, no small achievement for a country with more than 600,000 villages.

PC penetration is also poised for explosive growth. Forrester Research in its April 2005 report forecasts that by the end of the decade, Indian pc adoption will reach 78 million by 2010 from 7.9 million in 2004, a compounded annual growth rate of 38 per cent. Separately, International Data Corporation (IDC) states that India continues to be the largest growing nation in terms of domestic it spending in the entire Asia-Pacific region.

We must acknowledge, too, that India's digital multiplier has been magnified by the fact that there are no social or legal constraints such as censorship and denial of access. China is a good example of a country in which access is institutionally circumscribed. Which is why, though it has a high pc penetration and leads India in the Index of ICT Diffusion at 118 to 121, China could well figure among the ranks of the digitally excluded.

Of course, there is no denying that the digitally excluded still outnumber the digital enabled by a generous margin. By the end of 2004, approximately 700 million people worldwide had access to computing and the internet. This is a minuscule proportion of the total global population of 6.5 billion.

It is also true that the developing world is particularly afflicted by digital deprivation. For example, as of January 2005, India had a 0.4 per cent internet and 0.2 per cent broadband connection penetration. Considering that the country accounts for roughly 17 per cent of the world's population, it will be an understatement to call this unsatisfactory. Connectivity and access in rural India also remain issues that need to be addressed. The solution, however, lies precisely in what is already happening in India-the fusion of enlightened public policy with energetic private initiative. As C.K. Prahalad points out: "The digital divide is not about lack of opportunity, it is about lack of imagination."

Two kinds of interventions are taking place to accelerate the digital multiplier. First, at the policy level and, secondly, in the realm of private initiative- and both display an abundance of courage and imagination. At the policy level, the government has taken many concrete steps to ensure an investment-friendly environment. The it and ITEs industry has been provided with major breaks such as allowing 100 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI), zero licence fee for entry into the sector and liberalising regulations on overseas investment and repatriation and labour laws to create flexible 24x7 working environments.

I have already talked of the spin-offs from beneficial regulation and competition in telecom. If Communications Minister Dayanidhi Maran's One India plan takes off, fixed line rates will fall dramatically too-and the consequent impact on tariffs and ICT access can only be imagined.

What is more, the government is taking many resourceful initiatives to filter ICT access vertically. Media Lab Asia is one example. This not-for-profit company, started with seed funding from the government to research and innovate ICT relevant for the common man, has already generated a range of appropriate technology, from solutions for the handicapped to low-cost education for rural schools. Initiatives like Mission 2007 led by M.S. Swaminathan to make every village a knowledge centre will also play a crucial role in narrowing the chasm. This is empowering ordinary people in extraordinary ways. Imagine: today, it is possible for poor fishermen in Tamil Nadu to download meteorological data in real time from the us to predict weather patterns at sea.

Programmes such as these have created a natural momentum for private enterprise and encouraged corporations to introduce a range of enabling technologies that exploit the opportunities presented by economic reform. Many of these are classic Prahaladian "bottom of the pyramid" initiatives that leverage pure business aims to achieve social objectives. The offer of a multi-lingual Windows XP starter edition, licensed and built exclusively for India and intended for speakers in nine Indian languages, is one such example. Another is Microsoft's adoption of 100 schools in six states to transform education through ICT-based learning. Microsoft is also partnering the government to spread local language computing and e-governance.

As India's original "garage start-up", HCL has been hardwired into India's digital multiplier right from the start. It was HCL that spawned the concept of computer literacy and education way back in 1981, identifying a yawning gap between the growth in technology and education at the user level. NIIT was born out of the drive to plug this need gap and has become the leader in it education by empowering millions of people not just in India but parts of Asia too.

Many more technology penetration initiatives from HCL are empowering individuals and industries. It is HCL that pioneered the sub-Rs 10,000 pc and has taken connectivity to remotest parts of India by setting up the country's largest V-Sat network. India's banking network has virtually been set up by HCL. It has built networks for close to 5,000 branches and 6,500 ATMs across the country. The financial markets, too, are powered by HCL's it infrastructure. Traders in any part of the country enjoy real time connectivity to country's leading stock exchange. HCL is also developing a comprehensive solution to help the market regulator monitor the market. Indian corporations are bridging the digital divide internationally too. HCL is engaged in mission-critical work on next generation aircraft, implantable pain-relieving medical devices and remote monitoring of complex it infrastructure. Such high-end work is being carried out of design and development centres based in India.

Overall, it is fair to say that India has made far more progress in the spread and diffusion of ICT than traditional notions of the digital divide suggest. What we need today is not radical new policy initiatives but much more of the same opportunistic creativity and enlightened policy that has already put India on the digital map. Ten years from now, I can confidently predict that this momentum will place India high among the world's digitally empowered nations.

The author is Founder of HCL Group