While we know there are over 33,000 Drupal developers around the globe, I had no idea how strong Drupal was in India until I was there with Rachel Friesen, scouting locations for a possible DrupaCon Asia. By meeting with the community at camps, meetups, and dinners, we saw first hand how strongly India is innovating with Drupal and contributing back to the Project.

When it comes to geographic referrals, India is second in driving traffic to Drupal.org. However, they aren’t second in contributions, but things are changing. I was especially impressed with the relationship between Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Pfizer, a $51.5B life sciences company. Pfizer allows TCS to contribute their code, which is often not allowed for legal reasons. Since contributing back is a one of Pfizer’s top values, they asked TCS to make contribution part of their culture - and they did. At TCS, Rachit Gupta has created contribution programs that teach staff how to contribute and gives them time during work hours each week to contribute code. With a staff of several hundred developers, this can make TCS become a mighty contribution engine for the Project.

I’m equally impressed by other Indian web development consulting agencies that I met like Axelerant, Blisstering Solutions, Kellton Tech, and Srijan, who also have a contribution culture in their organizations. They even set up KPIs around staff contributions to make sure they are keeping this initiative top of mind.

While India celebrates its 68th birthday on January 26, it’s a time to celebrate its growth as a nation-- and, in its own way, Drupal has a hand in the country’s prosperity. Shine.com, a Drupal job search site, shows there are over 15,000 Drupal jobs in India.  All of the companies I talked to are growing their teams to meet that demand. Imagine if this contribution culture is fully embraced by Indian web development companies? The impact on the Project will be significant.

Individuals are also stepping up to support the Project and there is a passion for contribution that is spreading. I keynoted DrupalCamp Delhi, where over 1,000 people registered and 575 people attended. I saw first hand how dedicated the organizers were to make the event informative and fun. Several sprint mentors were on hand to lead more than 75 people through a full day sprint. Plus, the following weekend was Global Sprint Weekend and sprints popped up all over India in Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Goa, Hyderabad and Pune.

Not only are Drupalers in India helping the Project, but they are also using Drupal to create change in India with leapfrog solutions that give Indians access to more digital services. For example, many villages don’t have access to products found in major cities due to lack of infrastructure. The village stores simply can’t scale to buy and hold large quantities of inventory.

Iksula, an Indian eRetail consulting agency,  created a headless Drupal solution for Big Bazaar, India’s largest hypermarket, which provides lightweight tablets for store owners throughout India. Using those tablets, villagers can go into their local store and buy their goods online. The products are delivered to the shop owner, who hand delivers products to the consumer, giving people easier access to goods that can improve their quality of life.

As another example, we can look at IIT Bombay, India’s top engineering university, which uses Drupal at the departmental level. Professors P Sunthar and Kannan are taking Drupal to the masses by creating a MOOC in conjunction with MIT’s EDx. The work is funded by a government initiative called FOSSEE (Free and Open Source Software for Education), and through it, Indian university students can watch videos on several open source technologies, including Drupal.

The initiative bridges learning divides by providing the trainings in several languages found throughout India and provides low cost tablets for students who do not have a personal computer. This well thought-out program can help students learn the tools faster to meet the needs of of future employers. 

India has clearly embraced Drupal. They are making innovative solutions with the software and they are learning to contribute that back to the Project. Its for these reasons we want to host DrupalCon Asia. It will be a chance to highlight India’s Drupal talent and accelerate their adoption of a contribution culture.

A huge thank you to Chakrapani R, Hussain Abbas, Rahul Dewal, Jacob Singh, Mayank Chadha, Parth Gohil, Ankur Gupta, Piyush Poddar, Karanjit Singh, Mahesh Bukka, Vishal Singhal, Ani Gupta, Rachit Gupta, Sunit Gala, Professor P Sunthar and all the other community members who helped organize our trip to India. I’m personally moved and professionally inspired by all that you do.

Image credit to DrupalCamp Delhi