ARI Working Paper Series

Multinational firms and large local firms in India have sought to implement meritocracy in the Indian IT industry by hiring only those professionals with the most competitive credentials. These firms select top degree holders in various engineering fields and re-train them as software engineers. Based on interviews with 78 software professionals and 9 software consultants between the years 2002 and 2006, this study examines how meritocracy in the Indian IT Industry has enabled software engineers to achieve a high social status that transcends the strictures and dictates of their caste. This paper is based on chapters from my PhD dissertation (2007).