A BRIEF HISTORY OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN INDIA (1950-1969)

I have been working in the Indian Information & Communications Technology (ICT) industry since 1981, when I joined Tata Engineering & Locomotive Company Ltd. (TELCO, now Tata Motors Ltd.) as a "Programmer/ Analyst".

This post is from the knowledge of the ICT industry in India that I gathered over the years since then.

Computers found major use in the world first during World War II and at that time, solely for military purposes. Use for scientific and commercial purposes started only after World War II. 

As per NIC^[1], India was among the first countries in the world to use computers for purposes of education, R&D, Planning and National development! 

It all began in 1950 when Indian Statistical Institute (ISI), Kolkata installed India's first analog computer and later followed it up with another first - installation of India’s first digital computer at ISI, a U.K. made HEC-2M, in 1954. And since then, commercial, R&D, and educational institutions followed suit, using computers in growing numbers, notable on the timeline being ESSO Standard Eastern Inc., Mumbai (now Hindustan Petroleum), which was the first private firm to install and use computers in India, starting in 1961. 


No discussion on Information Technology can ever be complete without the mention of IBM^[2] at some point of time or the other. And so with Indian IT, the IBM relationship dates back to 1963 when IIT^[3], Kanpur installed the first IBM computer in India (an IBM 1620). This was followed by several IBM 1401 installations until the Govt. of India, in a bid to humble large multinationals (particularly American computer companies that were willing to sell only knocked-down versions of their latest computers to India) got rid of IBM (alongwith other MNCs like Coca-Cola) in 1977.

Indigenous manufacture of computers in India was started through Electronics Corporation of India Ltd. (ECIL), which was set up in 1967 under the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE). ECIL is to be credited for its TDC range of computers which were widely used by several Govt. Depts. and organizations, universities & educational institutions as their primary computers till around the early 1980s. In the latter half of the same decade, when the import and use of American computers was restricted by the Govt. of India, ECIL, in collaboration with Norsk Data A/S of Norway (one of the then leading manufacturers of scientific computers in the world) produced the Norsk Data ND-500 range of super-mini computers in India. This super-mini, seen as the best substitute to the VAX range of scientific computers manufactured by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) of USA was effectively used by a large number of scientific establishments in India on account of its ability to match the processing abilities of DEC’s VAX range on an almost equal footing, on all fronts, in the realm of scientific computing. ECIL, therefore, deserves credit again for helping Indian R&D & scientific institutions to tide over the period of hi-tech crisis created by the exit of US computer firms from India in 1977.

Developments in the private sector were pioneered primarily by Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. (TCS) with other firms like Datamatics & Patni joining-in in the 1980s. TCS was set up in 1968 and as of 1970 had just 2 IBM 1401 and one ICL^[4] 1903 computers. TCS’ first project was for sister Tata concern TISCO^[5]. This was followed by some other IT projects in India. Unable to get the kind of experience required to do international projects from domestic projects alone, TCS, in 1973, with the help of Burroughs Corporation, Michigan, USA^[6] made its first international appearance by bagging a major maintenance contract from US firm Institutional Group & Information Corp. (IGIC), a data centre for 10 banks and 2 million US customers. Later it was followed by a collaboration agreement being entered into between Burroughs Corp. and TCS. Under this agreement, TCS first developed a Hospital Mgmt. System for Burroughs Corp., based on the then latest B1700 computer. TCS then confidently entered the international market by importing two Burroughs computers (a B-1728 in 1974 and a B-6748 in 1976) despite considerable cost, and also despite having to undertake with the Govt. of India to export software twice the CIF^[7] value of the imported machines over a 5-year period. TCS though a small company at that time, accepted the challenge and made it by sheer hard work and perseverance!! And with a nearly 50-year history behind it, TCS today is still the first in the private sector although there are now several other big players on the Indian IT landscape like Infosys, Wipro, Tech Mahindra (formerly Satyam) and HCL to name just a few.

The table below summarizes the growth of computerization in India on the 1950-69 timeline by milestone/installation.

1950	First Analog Computer installed at the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI), Kolkata
1954	India's first digital computer – HEC-2M developed by A.D. Booth at Birbeek College, London acquired by ISI.
1955	HEC-2M operational at ISI in August
1958	URAL from the Soviet Union through the United Nation’s Technical Assistance for ISI.
1961	First commercial computer installed by ESSO Standard Eastern Inc., Mumbai
1962-1964	14 computers in R&D organisations across the country
1963	IBM 1620 in IIT, Kanpur
1964	IBM 1401 by IBM for ISI
1965	CDC 3600 acquired by TIFR[8], Mumbai
1965-1966	30 commercial installations across India
1966	IBM 7044 installed at IIT, Kanpur
1967	10 Honeywell Computers installed by Department of Statistics, Cabinet Secretariat
1968	IBM 1401 acquired by IIT, Kanpur
1969	IBM computer at Planning Commission under a grant of Ford Foundation

Source: National Informatics Centre, India (http://www.nic.in),

Indian Statistical Institute (http://www.isical.ac.in) & Others

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[1] National Informatics Centre (http://www.nic.in)

[2] International Business Machines Corp., USA

[3] Indian Institute of Technology

[4] International Computers Ltd., U.K.

[5] The Tata Iron and Steel Company Ltd.

[6] Burroughs is now Unisys Corp., having merged with UNIVAC in 1990. It was the second largest computer manufacturer in the world in 1973, after IBM

[7] CIF - Cost Insurance and Freight

[8] Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai