"EAs are a good choice when there are a lot of systems, a lot of data, a lot of regulations. An EA's role also is very important if an organization is innovative. A bank like ICICI or HDFC, for example, wont be able to survive without one, because they have new products almost everyday. But it's an investment and businesses shouldn't look for immediate benefits," he says.

And investments they are. architects are hard to find and Kumar estimates that someone as senior as architects need to be come at a premium: between Rs 35 lakh (US$69,658) to Rs 50 lakh per annum.

That's one of the reasons architects in India are an unnamed lot. Their jobs are normally filled in by CIOs or their second-in-commands, says Kumar. "A lot of people look at what an EA does and say 'what's the big deal? I can do that.' This isn't the West. This is India. We are used to having multiple roles."

Or some companies hire an architect from the outside, on a visiting arrangement because "enterprise architecture," he says, "cannot be justified as a full time job."

It's an idea that cuts both ways. At a time like this, when business needs to move fast on every opportunity, an architect on hire, with little knowledge of an enterprise's IT set up, represents one more layer of IT bureaucracy.