The story of Microsoft in India is stuff dreams are made of. Having set up India operations in 1990, Mirosoft's current headcount stands at 5,000. The company primarily has six business units in India -- Microsoft Corporation India (Pvt) Ltd (the marketing division), Microsoft Research India, Microsoft India Development Center, Microsoft Global Technical Support Centre, Microsoft IT and Microsoft Global Services India.

As India moves into its next phase of growth in the global knowledge economy, Microsoft continues to work in tandem with government, Indian IT industry and academicians. 

In an exclusive e-mail interview with Senior Associate Editor Indrani Roy Mitra, Microsoft India chairman Ravi Venkatesan shares his vision. Read on. . .

We feel the general population is overawed by IT majors like Microsoft, Infosys [Get Quote], Wipro [Get Quote], etc. Could you please explain what Microsoft stands for / does in India?

Ever since we set up India operations in 1990, a strong India focus and commitment for strengthening India's presence in the digital economy has topped our agenda. We are committed to delivering local strategies that are in sync with India's unique environment. Today we have offices in 10 cities, including Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, New Delhi, Pune, Nagpur, Ahmedabad and Chandigarh.

India is significant to Microsoft from, both, a market perspective as well as from a talent perspective. Accordingly we engage with India on a multitude of areas and our long-term commitment is evident from the fact that India is one of the few countries apart from the US where we have an end-to-end presence through our six business units, namely Microsoft Corporation India (Pvt) Ltd (the marketing division), Microsoft Research India, Microsoft India Development Center, Microsoft Global Technical Support Centre, Microsoft IT and Microsoft Global Services India.

Today, we have strength of over 5,000 employees across these six business units.

Our chairman Bill Gates, on his last India visit in 2005, committed $1.7 billion India investment which is a testimony to the increasing confidence of the company in India. Today, India is among the fastest growing subsidiaries for Microsoft in Asia and is poised to be among the top 3 over the next 5 years.

Our focus is on becoming a key IT partner to Indian businesses, the Indian government and the IT industry. We will support and fuel the growth of the local IT industry with a thrust on driving Innovations for, from and with India and under our commitment of 'Unlimited Potential,'  create a more inclusive growth for the billion Indians by  relevant and  affordable access to computing.

A lot is being said these days about corporate social responsibility. What responsibility, according to you, should corporates have to improve the state of living?

All of us -- individuals, families, and organisations -- have a responsibility to contribute to the society in whichever way we are able to. Corporates, of course, have the means to effect change on a larger scale, and it is an opportunity they should take seriously. Having said that, I would just like to add that being responsible is not just about, say, spending money on a cause. It means being conscious of the impact -- both good and bad -- your business could have on the world you inhabit.

As part of the IT sector, for instance, we at Microsoft are constantly looking for ways in which technology can benefit the less fortunate majority of humans. Our global effort, Unlimited Potential, expands and accelerates Microsoft's commitment to facilitate sustained social and economic opportunity for the more than five billion people living in every country around the world who do not today benefit from technology. And this is not about charity but more about responsible growth. 

Thousands of children are educated, orphans are cared for, destitute are looked after and the poor are fed under your social project -- Indian Giving Campaign. Could you please tell us its modus operandi? How will you rate it against its parental charity initiative Giving Campaign?

This is an extension of Microsoft's efforts at creating social and economic opportunities that change people's lives and transform communities. Through its matching contributions programme, Microsoft allows its employees to direct corporate contributions to nonprofit organisations working to improve lives in the country. Donations that India based employees make to eligible nonprofits are matched Rupee for Rupee by the company, up to Rs 50,000 per employee per  year. 

We do believe it is not enough to just give money but giving your time and effort is as important. Under our employee volunteer programme, we set aside three working days  per employee per year to enable them to  volunteer their time and and donate other resources such as their knowledge and expertise towards the betterment of communities.

A recent report stated that Microsoft is to hawk PCs to school kids. What is your plan for education?

It is the investment made by India in human capital that has led to its success. If India has to maintain and rise further in the emerging global knowledge economy, it has to ensure that it is able to create an enabling environment for education and jobs and opportunities.  It has to innovate to be able to do this.

Keeping this in mind, transforming education is one of the three key initiatives Microsoft Unlimited Potential has  committed itself to. Over the past several years Microsoft has been using a combination of quality content, partnerships, training, and broad access to transform education In India.

Under its programme, Project Shiksha (the global partners in learning programme) Microsoft has worked with state governments, and other key stakeholders to offer a spectrum of education resources including tools, programmes, and practices. Going forward, Microsoft will both scale up the existing initiatives and broaden the opportunity beyond institutions to enable access for individuals under a 'Connected Learning framework' called IQ. IQ is essentially a combination of an online and offline content tied into all aspects of a student's learning process and growth. 

The IQ PC includes Windows, Office/Works, Encarta, Student 2007 and specialised education solutions from a host of key partners. The content focuses on the key concerns of families, be it the learning of English as a language, tutorials for competitive examinations, or ensuring a seamless transition from class work to homework.

Where do you see Microsoft in five years, vis-�-vis its competitors?

If you see Microsoft over the last few years, we have grown considerably and now have a multi core strategy of growth. And over the years we have been able to consistently create a leadership position in every business area we operate in be it gaming, software or mobile computing.

We see ourselves doing equally well over the next five years. A lot of businesses that we are now getting into are areas that are emerging and developing themselves, so more than competing with other players, the challenge in these areas will be the evolving customer needs and business models themselves. For instance, with customers moving increasingly online the delivery of software over the net as a service is starting to gain popularity.

However, most players are trying to attune themselves to how to make this efficient, user friendly and scalable and are grappling with the question of whether customers will adapt this consumption model permanently. Microsoft believes it will be a combination of online and offline usage that will spur adoption. We call it the software plus service approach, and our focus will be on getting this model right and enabling customer adoption.

There are other new areas that we have successfully forayed into recently, such as search-based advertising, gaming and entertainment devices and so on. While we face intense competition in these against a set of very capable competitors, the market growth itself in these areas will be so high in the coming years that we will be able to gain considerable ground. 

In October, you launched live.com mainly, it is said, to counter Google's search engine. Please tell us more about it.

Windows Live is a new set of Internet services and software designed to put the individual in control by offering complete choice and customization.. The goal with live services is to create a seamless experience between offline and online technology experiences, and help customers push into the next phase of computing by giving them access to what they  want -- how and when they want it, regardless of connectivity or device.

Overall, this is part of Microsoft's software+services strategy. Geared towards enabling customers to optimize full capabilities of the networked environment, and to seamlessly bring together the information, relationships and interests they care about. We believe that no other company has the assets, audience and aspirations to deliver experiences and solutions that span our work styles and lifestyles in this age of Internet services.

Early beta versions of some of the Windows Live components can be found on www.ideas.live.com

Could you please share with us your vision of Microsoft India?

Globally, with Unlimited Potential, we are determined to reach IT to the next billion people by 2015.  India is one of the most exciting and important markets for Microsoft right now�both the challenges and opportunities are huge. In addition to being a growth sector of the Indian economy, information technology is also a key enabler of social development.  In India especially, the progress on many fronts is already well underway and will continue to mature.

The task that we have today is to make technology pervasive and useful in the everyday lives of more and more people. The growth of IT penetration in India, currently, might be rapid, but it is not rapid enough. And while affordability is critical, it is imperative for technology to be relevant and accessible too. Only when we meet these criteria will the adoption of technology grow exponentially. At Microsoft India, this is what we seek to deliver through Unlimited Potential.

Please throw some light on the research initiatives undertaken by Microsoft India. What impact are they going to have on India's IT growth?

In India, Microsoft conducts research primarily through Microsoft Research India which, like its other sibling labs, conducts basic and applied research in computer science and allied areas.

MSR India currently focuses on six areas of research: Cryptography, Security and Algorithms, Digital Geographics, Mobility, Networks, and Systems, Multilingual Systems, Rigorous Software Engineering, and Technologies for Emerging Markets.

An important objective for MSR, in addition to contributing to Microsoft's products and businesses, is to advance the state-of-the-art in computer science. In fact, a majority of the results of our research are published in leading conferences and journals, and are therefore available for researchers and technologists across the world, including India, to use to advance their technologies.

We firmly believe that research leads to innovation, which  is critical to technological leadership. MSR India is committed to enhancing India's research pipeline and have a number of initiatives to help achieve this. MSR India's External Programs and Research Group conducts a number of programmes, including collaborating with Indian academia, granting PhD Fellowships, research grants, research funding and travel grants for researchers.

In addition, some of the MSR researchers also hold adjunct faculty positions in leading technological institutions. MSR India holds an annual research symposium- TechVista- which brings together some of the world's leading researchers and technologists who talk about the cutting edge of research in different domains. TechVista aims to inspire the young, potential Indian research talent to take up advanced studies and adopt research as a career.

We think India has the potential to become a research powerhouse that can drive technology across the world as well as in India, and are confident that our efforts will contribute towards fulfilling this potential.