Forbes Column 08: India – Cash Rich, Product Poor

My new Forbes column discusses India’s venture capital situation, on which, you have heard me speak repeatedly before: India: Cash Rich, Product Poor.

Related reading:

* Incubator Finds in India
* Do we Need More Funds in India?

This segment is a part in the series : Forbes Column 08

Comments

The time has come to change one’s thinking 360 degrees.All the chaos can only be resolved by spiritual leaders,who view solutions in a totally different light.
To a question about some people claiming their religion is the chosen one, the Master replied,
“In essence,all religions of the world are the same, that is , to bring God’s blessings to all and not to chosen few. We are in God, and God is in us. We are His children, we are brethren. We must denounce violence both in thought and in action, and to live in perfect harmony. That is the way to ultimate salvation; the others lead to doom and destruction.”
Creativity is in all of us.Thousands of patents have been filed by people of Indian origin, especially in the US.
The reason for this because the environment in the US was is conducive to discovery.

Kuldip Singh Friday, March 7, 2008 at 11:20 PM PT

India’s main source of foreign exchange is foreign investment, which is highly volatile. In order to gain long term cash flows, India needs to focus on building a rich Patent Base, that would allow rights on a product for at least 15 years. For reaching higher levels of patents and IPRs, India primarily needs to focus on increasing Research and Development and needs to create R&D awareness among the students, who today are more job oriented. The facilities awarded by the government are dismal and educational institutions are focussing towards creating more executives than researchers.
Mainstream R&D requires highly sophisticated equipments which sadly cannot be provided by most educational institutions. The students therefore have to turn towards international companies for these facilities, who then gain the IPR on any product developed by these individuals.

Arijit Chatterjee Thursday, March 13, 2008 at 6:33 AM PT

[…] Product continues to be a problem for India’s Service driven IT industry, despite being flushe…. So what would happen in the next 8 years? There is hope, though, with entrepreneurs like Sridhar Vembu lighting a different path. […]

Catching Up On Some Reading - Sramana Mitra on Strategy Sunday, March 23, 2008 at 9:42 AM PT

[…] I have some suggestions on how to save the low-end IT jobs by expanding into India’s heartland. Product continues to be a problem for India’s Service driven IT industry, despite being flushed wi…. So what would happen in the next 8 years? There is hope, though, with entrepreneurs like Sridhar […]

Catching Up On Some Reading | Indian Startups In News Thursday, April 17, 2008 at 1:34 PM PT