So how much can you ask for without your vendor walking out of the room? CIOs have different opinions. One outlook could be that pricing is a commercial issue. It offers almost unlimited flexibility -- provided there is adequate leverage. In short, the question is: how badly does your vendor want your business? As shrewd business people, that's something smart negotiators need to sense quickly.

KPMG's Kumar says that for networking and bandwidth service contracts, the minimum discount a CIO can expect is between 25 percent and 30 percent. CIOs also report that renegotiations with smaller vendors for services and manpower that have yielded 15 percent to 20 percent price reductions over previously agreed rates.

With global vendors pushing prices down is much harder, say CIOs. But Indian CIOs also say fresh licenses are an area where in roads to discount can be made. Another factor that helps corner a better price is how long a contract's term is.

However they seem to disagree with Wang on one point: most companies in India, they say, do not seem to have the muscle to renegotiate maintenance contracts.

What everyone does agree on is the importance of ensuring that CIOs don't lose their vendors over a great deal -- a possible outcome of having a take-no-prisoner's approach. It is not a remote possibility what with top management bearing down on their executives to reduce costs. Being flexible and open to new business models is a healthy way of getting reductions and maintainging relationships. "We have been working with our key partners on alternate models. In addition to having direct financial benefits, this approach brought more ownership or skin in the game from our vendors and hence better quality output," says Arora.