The first inflection point for Indian IT service providers to go global and get recognized was the Y2k boom. While the “product” technology companies tried addressing the Y2k bug with automation solutions, products and scripts, India based providers sensed an opportunity to sell services or bodies (I know the term sounds derogatory, but this is the exact phrase used in most companies, although it gets wrapped in some fancy wordings for the customer) and this lead to the rise of the Indian Top 5 at that time. The Y2k boom not only allowed the Indian organizations to get a foot in the door through some staff augmentation deals and sign global Master Service Agreements with the F500/ G1000 , but also put the world’s focus on India (and specifically Bangalore at that time). Indian IT companies started boasting revenues in the millions and approaching a billion during this phase.

The…