British business must embrace e-commerce more strongly or run the risk of being left behind other leading industrial nations, according to one of the pioneers of India's computer industry.

Ashank Desai, chairman of global e-consultancy Mastek, told delegates at the Commonwealth Business Forum: "A certain complacency and resistance to change in IT advancement have been visible in the attitudes of many of the chief executives in the UK."

Mastek advises companies as diverse as Lex Vehicle leasing and bookstore Barnes & Noble.

Mr Desai claimed that the corporate culture in Britain was not conducive to IT. Technological advancement, he said, is restricted partly because IT managers do not sit on the board of directors of British companies.

That often meant firms failed to spot the potential of "e-opportunities".

Mr Desai, who founded the e-business consultancy in 1982 with two friends in a bedroom in Mumbai, also claimed that there was an "alarming dearth of skills in Britain".

"If organisations are not responding properly they will have problems," he told the Guardian. "Whole industries such as financial services and the travel industry are going to change completely the way they do business."

The warning came as western governments vie to recruit computer programmers from around the globe and especially the Indian subcontinent. Earlier in the year German chancellor Gerhard Schröder said he would relax immigration laws to let in highly trained IT staff.

Britain is set to follow. Last week Home Office minister Barbara Roche called for a "debate" on immigration to plug the skills gap.

Mastek, which is now worth almost $500m, has a division in Britain which is run by a "local chief executive" but is staffed by Indian programmers. "We bring people from India for the software development," Mr Desai said.

A spokesman for Mastek UK said that often the mathematical ability of Indian graduates was far higher than comparable British workers.

However, there is hope. Mr Desai said: "The knowledge and expertise are both available in Britain, but little is being done to use it to its full potential."

•SSI announced yesterday the largest cross-border takeover by an Indian technology firm, through its plan to buy US-based AlbionOrion for $63.65m in a cash-and-stock deal.

Software company SSI said it would pay $20m in cash and issue 6.5m global depositary shares as a consideration for the remaining $43.65m.