IndoCarib
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Indias information technology sector may have started by running call centers and maintaining old computer code for American companies. But, today, instead of starting more I.T. services companies, a new breed of Indian entrepreneurs are developing high-value technology products based on intellectual property.
Indias I.T. industry is entering a new stage. The transition of Indias I.T. industry has been nothing less than remarkable. After helping American companies fix the Y2K bug in the late 90s, Indian outsourcers started taking on the task of performing sophisticated research and development. Today, Indian engineers design aircraft engines, automotive components and manufacturing plants, next-generation microprocessors, telecom products, and medical devices. Indian I.T. has grown from almost nothing in 1980 to an estimated $88 billion in revenue in 2011 according to Indian I.T. trade group, NASSCOM. The engineering R&D services component of this has increased from $1.4 billion in 2004 to $11.3 billion. It is these R&D workers who are now innovating.
Look carefully, and youll see that dynamics at play in the U.S. are the same ones at play in India, where entrepreneurs start their tech companies when they are, on average, 39 years old. American entrepreneurs typically have 10 to 15 years of work experience combined with ideas for products that solve real customer problems. They get tired of working for others and want to build wealth before they retire, so they make the plunge into entrepreneurship. India now has hundreds-of-thousands of R&D workers who have the experience and knowledge to found their own companies, and, like their U.S. counterparts, many are taking the risk and starting companies.
I have been traveling to India for the past 6 years to study the evolution of Indias I.T. industry. The first generations of start-ups I came across in Delhi and Bangalore were mostly feeble copies of Silicon Valley companies. They lacked experience, market intelligence, and the depth of management to create sustainable businesses. A few of these start-upslike Makemytrip and Indiagames struggled through these difficulties and achieved success, but nearly all others failed. Makemytrip now trades on the NASDAQ at slightly less than a billion dollar market cap. India Games was recently sold to Disney for a reported $80-100 million.
The Nov. 9 NASSCOM Product Conclave provided a first-hand look at how the ecosystem has evolved. The event was filled to capacity1,400 people. The entrepreneurs in attendance were as confident, assertive, and ambitious as those I meet in Silicon Valley. But there were far fewer me-too social media companies and inexperienced founders making pie-in-the-sky projections of revenue growth. Most of the entrepreneurs in Bangalore were seasoned, mature executives focused on solving the problems of Indias infrastructure or taking advantage of its rapidly growing e-commerce marketplace.
Several companies I have been tracking had evolved and proven their products and business models. For example, one company I wrote about in 2010, EnNatura was trying to develop an offset printer ink made from vegetable oil that is entirely bio-degradable and emits no volatile compounds. This would provide an eco-friendly alternative to the offset printing industry which today, according to EnNatura, consumes 1 million tons of petroleum products and emits 500,000 tons of volatile organic compounds every year. EnNatura is now shipping its product to dozens of Indian printers at a competitive price. It is readying its products for Western markets.
Why India should scare Silicon Valley - The Washington Post
Indias I.T. industry is entering a new stage. The transition of Indias I.T. industry has been nothing less than remarkable. After helping American companies fix the Y2K bug in the late 90s, Indian outsourcers started taking on the task of performing sophisticated research and development. Today, Indian engineers design aircraft engines, automotive components and manufacturing plants, next-generation microprocessors, telecom products, and medical devices. Indian I.T. has grown from almost nothing in 1980 to an estimated $88 billion in revenue in 2011 according to Indian I.T. trade group, NASSCOM. The engineering R&D services component of this has increased from $1.4 billion in 2004 to $11.3 billion. It is these R&D workers who are now innovating.
Look carefully, and youll see that dynamics at play in the U.S. are the same ones at play in India, where entrepreneurs start their tech companies when they are, on average, 39 years old. American entrepreneurs typically have 10 to 15 years of work experience combined with ideas for products that solve real customer problems. They get tired of working for others and want to build wealth before they retire, so they make the plunge into entrepreneurship. India now has hundreds-of-thousands of R&D workers who have the experience and knowledge to found their own companies, and, like their U.S. counterparts, many are taking the risk and starting companies.
I have been traveling to India for the past 6 years to study the evolution of Indias I.T. industry. The first generations of start-ups I came across in Delhi and Bangalore were mostly feeble copies of Silicon Valley companies. They lacked experience, market intelligence, and the depth of management to create sustainable businesses. A few of these start-upslike Makemytrip and Indiagames struggled through these difficulties and achieved success, but nearly all others failed. Makemytrip now trades on the NASDAQ at slightly less than a billion dollar market cap. India Games was recently sold to Disney for a reported $80-100 million.
The Nov. 9 NASSCOM Product Conclave provided a first-hand look at how the ecosystem has evolved. The event was filled to capacity1,400 people. The entrepreneurs in attendance were as confident, assertive, and ambitious as those I meet in Silicon Valley. But there were far fewer me-too social media companies and inexperienced founders making pie-in-the-sky projections of revenue growth. Most of the entrepreneurs in Bangalore were seasoned, mature executives focused on solving the problems of Indias infrastructure or taking advantage of its rapidly growing e-commerce marketplace.
Several companies I have been tracking had evolved and proven their products and business models. For example, one company I wrote about in 2010, EnNatura was trying to develop an offset printer ink made from vegetable oil that is entirely bio-degradable and emits no volatile compounds. This would provide an eco-friendly alternative to the offset printing industry which today, according to EnNatura, consumes 1 million tons of petroleum products and emits 500,000 tons of volatile organic compounds every year. EnNatura is now shipping its product to dozens of Indian printers at a competitive price. It is readying its products for Western markets.
Why India should scare Silicon Valley - The Washington Post
