The celebrations surrounding Infosys' 25th anniversary at the company's engineering centre in Mysore offer a new insight into the surging confidence of the IT sector in India today. This self-confidence was on display in P Chidambaram, the Finance Minister's, provocative statement, 'IBM is legacy, Infosys is the future'.

The Minister went on to state, 'It is difficult to believe we are in India. This could be the Silicon Valley in California, this could be the Rouen region in France, this could be Stuttgart, this could be any town in Australia'.

His comments were echoed by Karnataka's Chief Minsiter, Nayarana Murthy, '25 years ago, if an Indian visited a western country, no matter what his qualification was, the westerners looked at him as a person looking for a job, no matter what kind of job. Today, the perception has undergone a complete change. Today the Indian arriving at any destination is seen mainly as a knowledge sector professional. It is mainly thanks to the contribution of the IT industry in general and companies such as Infosys that this has happened'.

The extent to which this confidence is justified can be debated. Nevertheless IT professionals around the globe are getting used to the presence of India's IT sector as a fact of life, one that is likely to become even larger in years to come.