Columns: Arun Katiyar

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Where is India on the New World's Digital road map? Going by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO)'s conference on electronic commerce and intellectual property held in Geneva last week, I'd say we are much better off than many other countries, including Japan where traditional business is unable to adapt to the online environment. At least India had two listed speakers at the WIPO conference -- Ashok Soota, chairman of Bangalore-based MindTree Consulting and Pravin Anand of Delhi-based law firm Anand and Anand. Both made significant contributions while sharing their experiences with others. In fact, the Indian experience must have made many developed nations take notice of the vast strides being made in our country in terms of adopting the new technologies as well as building some legal precedents that look at the nature of trademarks and copyright. India may still have connectivity problems and the technology may not be quite as widespread, but it's still three cheers for private Indian initiative.

Speaking at the conference, Robert Bishop, CEO, Silicon Graphics, made an awesome observation: "In 1999 Silicon Graphics is going to ship more computing power than in the entire history of computing." And with developments on the Net taking place eight to nine times faster than the pace of governments, you can quickly estimate the kind of stress this is going to lead to within traditional systems of conducting business. He made one other observation that may be worth repeating. Bishop remarked that technology had become the engine for globalisation. "It isn't the Concorde, not satellites, but the Internet that is making the world a smaller place," he said. "It is the Internet which is going to ensure that we have 24-hour stock markets and 24-hour banks. Technology is going to disturb our social paradigm."

At last week's India Internet World '99 held in Delhi's Pragati Maidan, Bishop's words were ringing true. Ryan Hendricks, president and CEO of the world's first multimedia portal -- www.i2inet.com -- launched the global service from India. "Over the next decade, Internet investment is going to come to India and not China," said Hendricks. "This is because India, unlike China, understands English and is the most techno-savvy in the world." The Indian business space is about to get massively dot.comed. Stay tuned.

Mumbai-based doctor Anirudha Malpani and his wife Anjali have written a book, How to Get the Best Medical Care. You can visit www.thebestmedicalcare.com and perhaps even order a copy. But that's not the point. The site has several sections which can be of immediate assistance: it has links to online doctors, newsgroups and journals like British Medical Journal and Lancet, sites with a large collection of medical slides, interactive lounges and some medical jokes. If this interests you, you can visit www.healthlibrary.com, another Malpani site with cartoons by Dr Hemant Morparia. Between them one doctor knows information is the best prescription. The other knows laughter is the best medicine.

Confused about why your pc isn't behaving like mine? Look up Dr Chip at www.drchip.com and find the answers that you thought only geeks had. Solve problems with bios, with your Y2K jitters, anything. Dr Chip has the solution. Looking up how to install Oracle on Linux didn't produce any result but one could always write to Dr Chip and ask for help. Want to know more about digital cameras, need a patch for a multimedia package? No problem. Dr Chip comes from Chip magazine, so you can be sure of reliable help. Today when computer support is almost as important as the visit to your shrink, www.drchip.com is a good url to visit.

One of the bigger problems that the Internet can resolve is the handling of complex databases. One such area is financial management. How do you go about looking up a mutual fund that suits your personal goals or keeps pace with news regarding an asset-management company? The depth of data that a website can filter for you at the click of a button is actually what you are looking for. And www.mutualfundsindia.com is one such place. You can, at your pace, read up the risk involved with each of the schemes, download a form (although many schemes do not accept forms that are not printed by them), fill it and send it. Finally, you can track the progress of your portfolio at Mutual Funds India from the comfort of your desktop.

There's a vast market for second-hand cars and who would understand this better than Mahindra & Mahindra. The company has now launched www.automartindia.com, billed as India's largest parking lot for second-hand cars. Currently, the site lists more than 2,000 used cars which are up for sale -- if you have a car you want to sell, register it now. Naturally, the site also features tips that will help evaluate used cars, figure out what to look for inside and outside a car in addition to understanding the legalities involved with transferring ownership. Currently there are two finance companies that will give you competitive options but the real advantage the consumer will have is when more companies line up for your business.

Arun Katiyar is Chief Operating Officer of India Today Group Online. His e-mail address is akatiyar@lmindia.com