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
RE:Entrepreneurship in India
by Prakash A on Mar 24, 2007 07:01 AM Permalink
I do not understand what so big to be pride about Indian community in the US or anyother country for that matter. You are trying to portray as if Indians are the only people started business in the US and become sucesful.
RE:Entrepreneurship in India
by Praveen Rai on Mar 24, 2007 04:18 AM Permalink
I live in US. I am a mechanical engineer, and worked in automation industry (Japnese company). Currently pursuing MBA in finance.
Aditya, you said it well. Post-independent India has been bogged down by an incredible entrepreneurial inertia because of govt. policies. Before coming here, I worked in Bombay and Bangalore for a year and I personally experienced the lethargy and indifference of people in positions of power. There was incompetence everywhere. I certainly feel that it wasn't because of lack of intelligence or ability; it was utter lack of desire to see meaningful progress either at personal level or at institutional level. People lacked the will to succeed because there was no "profit motive" as famously termed by Adam Smith. I had heard a story about a top Director in one of the top companies bringing pillow and mattress to have a long afternoon nap; there was no accountability. Fortunately, tide is turning and we have model entrepreneurs in Narayan Murthy, Azim Premji, the Ambanis and so on. I was just watching Maria Bartiromo of CNBC interviewing young Aditya Mittal and that should be inspiring to millions of aspiring talents in India. I don't mind an evolutionary approach to growth in our young capitalist society as opposed to fast-paced growth without proper foundation and institutional development. But, we simply don't have the political will (the Nehruvian socialists and the obsolete communist ideologies still command lot of power and they clearly are becoming the impediments) to make the necessary, serious changes to achieve consistent growth. I still see young politicians like Rahul Gandhi trying to play the divisive politics; it is as though we take a step forward with all the progress in IT/ life sciences/manufacturing and then sadly take a step back with anti-growth policies to please some sections of the society. My only hope is that the growth machine that's generating this much-touted 8% GDP every year has the momentum to sustain its forward move notwithstanding lack of political will to put India in the path of economic well-being. India deserves to be an economic super power, as it is vital for the global growth and well-being.
RE:Entrepreneurship in India
by Sicilian on Mar 24, 2007 04:36 AM Permalink
Another crap ! from another intellectual ! Socialism, Communism, Democracy, and all other isms and cracies are crap !!! Its all abt leadership in the individual isms or cracies . Indians succeed (succeed in what? sports? ) cas they are coming from a competative region and culturally/region-wise they are taught to think only of self then society. What crap!!
RE:[object MouseEvent]
by Sicilian on Mar 24, 2007 04:39 AM Permalink
What about success of china and the soviet russia which beat the shit out of germany in world war-2. The germany which conquered france and made britain a sitting duck.
RE:Entrepreneurship in India
by tar sha on Mar 24, 2007 03:09 AM Permalink
I think we Indians in India are risk averse as there is no feeling of security. Plus there is too much pressure from social circle to be successful; so most of the people choose easy and tested ways to become successful rather than taking paths which are filled with enormous risks.
Also, I have seen many of my frineds doing great in their business. But unfortunately media does not report those people as they are mainly in traditional business. But if someone starts up a small compnay in bay area, they will definitely get some recognition in Indian media.
We dont have enough statistics which indicates how many people start their own and fail (both in US and India) to come at some conclusion. Plus dont forget the reality that people who migrate to US are highly educated people and we should not compare them with average indians.
RE:RE:RE:Entrepreneurship in India
by ram on Mar 23, 2007 09:11 PM Permalink
I work as engineer (non-it) In USA.
It all part of Darwins theory of evolution. Life in tropics was much easy than life in artics. Throw a stone up in air and there would be a nice luscious coconout to eat. While things were dead in artics. SOme one had to invent steam power to prevent their blood from freezing. It was finally james watt. Now- Wetsetrn countries (which have cold sub zero temperatures) have progrssed and maintain a much confortable lifestyle now. India is still poor.
I had to become a engineer or a doctor. I had no choice. If someone points a gun point blank on to me, I can do anything, I can even get a phd in math.
We are now jealous of the progress the west has made. SO we are trying to work harder. SImple, An indian brain is no different than any other human brain. Just the effect of evolution and environment. DOnt get fooled by the numbers- I am not too sure about the quality of indian engineers. Evolution will take time. Indian cant dominate the world overnight. Indians would dominate if the environmental evolutionary conditions contnue to exist.
