Catalysis, Not Leapfrog: An Institutionalist Argument for a Limited Role of ICTs in India's Development

Abstract

In response to the impressive performance of information and computer technologies (ICTs) in India in the corporate and the development sector, and relying upon a variety of optimistic estimates, the Indian government has set its sights on the ICT sector not only as a vehicle to ‘leapfrog’ the nation into the forefront of the global knowledge economy, but also as a facilitator of internal development initiatives. This paper takes a more sober view of the possibilities of ICTs as agents of national economic transformation. It argues for a more limited and grounded view of the potential of ICTs. The paper contends that ICTs work best when integrated within an existing matrix of institutionally led programmes of growth and welfare. The metaphor of ‘catalysis’ perhaps is more apt to describe the role of ICTs in India's economic transformation. A catalyst plays more of an accelerating role in a reaction than a transformative one, and its success is predicated upon the reaction being already underway. Likewise, ICTs can enhance already existing trajectories of economic development, rather than generate them, or ‘leapfrog’ developmental stages.