Wipro Technologies will continue the practice of acquiring companies in order to spread the reach of its operations in India and 15 other countries, company president Azim Premji pointed out on Thursday.

He said that this is an era of great opportunities for Indian companies to compete with the best in the world.

Delivering the inaugural lecture of Confluence-2003, the annual B-school meet of Indian Institute of Management, Premji said that, in less than 30 years from now, India is expected to be the third biggest economy in the world.

Quoting a recent study, he said that even with a six per cent growth, India's economy will be stronger than countries like Italy, Japan and France by 2025.

Commenting on the theme of his speech -- Management without boundaries -- Premji said Wipro gets more than 80 per cent of its revenue from countries other than India.

"Boundaries are no longer relevant today. It is just about giving the consumer exactly what he need sand in time. The consumer has learnt one thing over the past few years. That he is king," Premji said.

Speaking about trends that are sweeping the Indian industry and industry all over the world, Premji said standards being set now are far more stringent and the bar is being raised to higher levels.

"With this, it will be a challenge for companies to preserve their best employees by making living conditions for them far better than they are," Premji said.