Microsoft Corporation, a global leader in personal and business software, Wednesday announced its Genuine Software Initiative in India aimed at combating software piracy.

The software leader will promote the use of genuine software and educate consumers against using pirated versions of Windows, its popular operating system.

Microsoft will make investments across three strategic areas of education, engineering and enforcement in the initiative that will bring together the firm's activities and investments directed at combating software piracy in India into a single coordinated effort.

As part of the initiative, Microsoft will also introduce Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) Notifications - a new service that provides notifications to consumers using non-genuine Microsoft Windows XP.

"While most customers will experience no change, customers who are running a non-genuine copy of Windows will receive notifications directly to their desktop informing them that the copy of Windows they are running is not genuine. This service will be activated in India from June 1," a company statement said here.

"Microsoft's Genuine Software Initiative attempts to address some of the pertinent issues that encourage the use of pirated software in the country," it said.

"A research we did in India last year indicated that almost 50 percent of Indian consumers who use counterfeit software today, do so unknowingly," said Doug Hauger, head of business and marketing operations of Microsoft Corporation India Pvt Ltd.

"The research also made it clear that lack of ready access to and availability of genuine software is an issue that compounds the problem in India," Hauger added.

"Through our Genuine Software Initiative, over the next year we will be making significant investments in the areas of education, engineering and enforcement to ensure that we create an environment of respect for IPR (intellectual property rights) and help bring down the level of piracy in the country," he said.

Piracy and counterfeit products are of grave concern across the entire technology industry. The Business Software Alliance (BSA) estimates that 35 percent of all software used worldwide is counterfeit or otherwise illegal, and in 2005 economic losses due to software piracy amounted to $34 billion.

According to a NASSCOM study, 'Information Technology in the Economy of India', a 10-point decrease in the piracy level in India (from the existing 72 percent); can result in a 13.4 percent increase in the country's gross domestic product (GDP).

"This faster growth could help India generate 364,000 more jobs and add $30 billion a year to an already booming IT-enabled economy," the study said.