India’s information technology industry is one of the largest operations in the world – employing millions of engineers, technicians and customer service specialists who serve the world’s second-largest population.

The industry has enabled socio-economic development, enhanced economic growth and productivity, reduced poverty, and improved standards of living across the board. It’s even helped develop nuclear power in India.

And the company standing at the top of India’s IT mountain is not Infosys Technologies Ltd (NASDAQ GS:INFY) or Tata Consultancy Services. And it’s certainly not Satyam Computer Services (ADR: SAY). 

It’s Armonk, N.Y.-based International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM).

“They’ve beaten their competition relatively handily,” Kaufman Bros.’s Karl Keirstead told Bloomberg, who pointed to IBM’s brand name and experience as draws for potential clients. “There’s a cachet in using IBM.”

IBM’s model is the anti-model. Whichever country the company is working in, it has a game plan exclusively catered to it. It encompasses not only the determination of the customer needs, but also the provision of every aspect of the required technology solutions – including recurring maintenance, updating and even financing.

And financing is crucial these days. IBM’s long history in the world’s markets has given the company a recognition and credibility abroad, helping to mitigate competitive threats from unproven newcomers.

Its presence in India will yield dividends as India’s economy emerges from the global financial crisis.

IBM leaders have shrewdly increased the company’s investments in the fastest growth areas of the world, increasing its unparalleled geographic diversification as it keeps emphasizing its higher-value businesses – especially software, highly profitable middleware and services.

At the beginning of 2009, 71% of IBM’s nearly 400,000 employees are working overseas – a 65% increase from two years prior.

In fact, IBM incorporates the words “global” or “world” in nearly every sentence of the business strategy outlined in its annual earnings report of 2008.

“The Internet has enabled communication and collaboration across the world and brought with it a new computing model premised on continuous global connection. In that landscape, companies can distribute work and technology anywhere in the world,” the report said.

It continues: “At the same time, the current economic crisis increases the pressure on both businesses and governments around the world to adapt….