Dwaipayan Banerjee - Computing in the Age of Decolonization: India's Lost Technological Revolution

While India is globally recognized today for producing elite Silicon Valley leadership, the nation captures only a fraction of the tech industry’s global profits, functioning primarily as a hub for skilled, low-cost labor for Western corporations. This talk explores the historical roots of this paradox by tracing India’s ambitious—but ultimately thwarted—drive to build a self-reliant computing industry between the 1950s and the 1980s. Following independence in 1947, scientists and policymakers at institutions like the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research envisioned computing as a vehicle for national sovereignty. Through initiatives ranging from the indigenous TIFRAC computer to the high-profile expulsion of IBM, they aimed for total technological autonomy. However, these projects faced immense headwinds, including Cold War geopolitics, international trade imbalances, and the strategic choices of India’s own technocratic elite, who eventually prioritized profitable service exports over costly investments in research and manufacturing. By narrating this "lost future," this presentation argues that genuine technological independence requires more than technical expertise—it demands addressing enduring political and social structures rooted in colonial legacies. As global conflicts over technology intensify today, this history offers critical insights into how past pathways continue to define contemporary battles for economic sovereignty.

About the Speaker

Dwaipayan Banerjee is associate professor in the Program in Science, Technology, and Society at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is the author of Enduring Cancer: Life, Death, and Diagnosis in Delhi and the coauthor of Hematologies: The Political Life of Blood in India.