The success of Indian entrepreneurs is highly evident and a matter of great pride for the Indian-American community here in the US.
The biggest puzzle however is the question why the same entrepreneurs are unable to achieve sucess (proportionally) in India itself. Here are some of the main reasons I can think of.
1. The inverse relationship between the social fabric and government policy. The truth of the matter is that Indians as a people are highly innovative and capitalistic. This is evident from the success the Indian diaspora has achieved all over the world (not just the USA). The Indian government however has adopted a doctrine of anti-capitalistic socialism. For a nation and its people to be truly successful the govenment has to mirror the spirit of the people. In this case they are total opposites which is why a lot of young Indians get frustrated and seek opportunities abroad in more capitalistic environments like the USA.
2. Conservative approach by educational institutions. I am a physician by profession, but I am also a research scientist. I always like to speak with graduate students from other parts of the world to learn about the experiences in their respective countries. All the Indian students always complain that they never got support from their faculties when they tried to conduct cutting edge research using unconventional ideas. Ironically, this is what experimental science is all about. The senior faculty in most Indian institutions simply wait for the western nations to make important break-throughs while they waste their own time doing "we too" research i.e. simply copying the experiments done elsewhere to claim that "we too proved this can be done." In the meanwhile all the bright graduate students (and there are MANY) leave to come work at labs here in the USA.
3. The misconception of money. Whenever I visit India and ask my friends and relatives as to why a country that produces so many quality scientists and engineers is unable to conduct ground breaking research or other entrepreneureal endeavors I always get the rhetorical reply "because you Americans have so much money to throw." This has to be one of the stupidest replies in history of mankind. True, USA has a lot more money, but the overheads here are ridiculous too. India with a dearth of talent (in the form of graduate students) and lower costs can probably do just as much as the USA or atleast parts of wester europe and Japan.
The IT industry however is exempt from this. Again, its a common misconception in the west that they do nothing other than run some meaningless call centers. That however cannot be far from the truth. The Indian IT machine is on the cutting edge of software and now even hardware science. The reason however is because its a field run by a young generation who don't carry the emotional baggage of their seniors. They are highly daring and confident of their skills which makes them extrmely competitive on the global scene. I wish Indians from all fields wake up and take a lesson from these guys.
I would like to start a discussion about this topic. I only request that each person who chooses to participate in this conversation list where they live and work (India or elewhere) and what industry they are in. Thank you
