Global reputation will help Indian firms grow: Gates

Microsoft chairman Bill Gates on Wednesday said that Indian IT companies will be affected by the global economic slowdown but will continue to grow their business as they have built a global reputation.

���IT companies in India are great partners of Microsoft. They are investing in the long term and they have a pretty incredible reputation. They are always considered whenever a global project comes up,��� he said, speaking at a seminar at IIT Delhi.

Mr Gates is currently on a visit to India to promote anti-polio and other healthcare efforts, undertaken by his charitable foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, in the country.

Talking about the financial crisis that started with the US and has now spread to other markets, Mr Gates said that global markets had overreacted in gauging the spread of the crisis. ���There is no doubt that the US is in somewhat of an economic recession but it doesn���t need to extend to other markets.

I think the markets have overreacted. The economy will have some weakness for more than six months but it will get back on track,��� he said. A proponent of increasing the number of H1-B visas, the speciality worker visas for foreign nationals working in the US, Mr Gates also highlighted the shortage of right skills worldwide during his speech.

���The world continues to have a shortage of the right skills. So, we need more IITs, more universities. The shortage might be bridged in another 10 years when it will catch up with the demand, leading to a new set of challenges.

But there are always opportunities for those with the right skill sets,��� he said. The Microsoft co-founder also unveiled a new programme, DreamSpark, on Wednesday that will provide the latest Microsoft developer and designer tools to students for free.