Why isn't there a groundbreaking software/hardware product from India, yet?
India is a force to reckon with in Information Technology; Its knowledge workers have made it big in many developed countries around the world - they have been involved in building many start-ups and successful companies. A recent report stated that next to China/Taiwan numbers combined, Indians apply for and get the highest number of patents in the US. Given this competence (and the proofs), why isn't there a market-shaking Indian software/hardware product out there?
Good Answers (1)
Ankur B.
Head - Mobility at Indiabulls and Director SkyTran India
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A groundbreaking product results not just from scientists/engineers -- it emerges from the environment and mindset. The environment in US (for example) makes it quite 'normal' and routine for companies to innovate and come up with breakthroughs. There are already support systems and practices in place -- eager financers, entrepreneurs, marketers, customers always wanting more... They have been inventing for more than 200 years now and see it very natural to solve problems using new ideas and technologies.
On the other hand, Indians learn technologies to get jobs. Instinctively, they don't want to solve any problems using new ideas and rock the boat. They would rather live with status quo and quickly become tolerant (worse, ignorant) of small inconveniences. Our approach to technology is bookish -- we learn things to get degrees and jobs, not out of real interest and curiosity. There are so many, e.g., who have high degrees in say, economics, psychology, engineering, etc but have least interest in these subjects.
Forget groundbreaking innovation, if an Indian company decides to build something as mundane as a dishwasher, DVD player or TV set top boxes, it will look for a foreign collaborator. Unless something has worked abroad, they don't believe in it. They don't have confidence in their own logical reasoning to assess new ideas. Unless new ideas are corroborated and used by foreigners, they won't believe in it. That's why many Indian authors, films, artistes are recognised in India only when they have earned applaud abroad.
Lest I should sound like a hardcore critic of India, let me point out that things have begun to change -- but only now and slowly. Some Indians have begun to trust themselves and ask basic questions. They are willing to create or try new things even if they haven't been done before. These are the foundations for groundbreaking products. If this continues and catches up we might start seeing groundbreaking products coming from here, just like they come from Japan, Korea and other places.
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Hi Giri, I believe that Indians are good engineer and Technologists but not good scientists. The indian companies do not have sufficient talent in R&D and Research Management. In fact, they relate product development to risk-taking. Still I will list few products developed by Indian IT Software companies:
- Infosys - Bankway 2000
- TCS - EX - NGN
- iFlex (ex-citygroup, now part of Oracle) FlexCube
If you see, all these products were developed either for internal use, or for a specific client and then these companies realised that there is a broader market for it.
Links:
Simple answer : Lack of standards and compliance.
Richard H.
Software and Datastructures Guru
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The most dominant major markets are currently based on the U.S. model of what's good and "sexy" in the e-market. India has not quite moved to that model as a reflexive mindset. The predominant Western "cast-of-mind" in India is still too British. Indians are too bright and talented to stay behind the line - they'll catch up.
Subrahmanya Gupta B.
CISO with IT Governance experience
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Giridhar,
Necessity is the mother of invention.
Developed countried had an advantage of high computer penetration and software/hardware came along.
May be India is taking a leap and skipping the computer and going after Mobile applications. There are many applications that are being developed for Mobiles (including backend) these days from India.
India is still suffering from Brain Drain.. isn't it? A large number of talented Indians are residing outside India or working for multinational companies in India. Even if an Indian has done the kind of work you are talking, credit goes to the company or country and not to India.
What are your thoughts?
I would agree with Subramanya argument but I would add couple of things - the lack of plastic cash and piracy in the Indian market. The former affects design/introduction of web-based applications and the latter can dampen desktop-based applications.
- Satnam
Hi. The root cause is that we have been focussed on achieving "best practices" since we got into the game late and have been busy playing catch-up. Our fixation with various certifications is another example of 'best practice' process behaviour.
We need to move to "next practice" mode of thinking and working - which is a paradigm shift in attitude and mind-set. Inventions, break-through products, solutions and ideas all arise from 'next practice' positions.
My belief is that we will soon see this happening, as we have a new confidence and realisation about our abilities. I strongly believe that India has a great opportunity to improve the quality of life of its large underprivileged population by resorting to 'next practice' solutions; the 'best practice' ones will simply not work. Also, India can leap-frog instead of trying to catch-up through 'next practices'.
regards
Sriram
Abhijit S.
Customer Focussed, Consultative Professional specialising in Enterprise Solutions and Consulting
Some examples to dispute Giridhar:
* ERP from Ramco Systems - Multiple Customers across India, Far East and Middle East
* Tally (Accounting Package) from Tally Solutions - 200,000 legal Customers across 88 countries
* Banking Solutions from Infosys and IFlex
With warm regards
Abhijit Sengupta
Mindset
I would say:: Necessity is the mother of all inventions...Currently the necessity of Indians has been more towards getting the basic things in life and earning forex which comes easily through services in global markets...So the entire infrastructure..govt help, etc is geared more towards not encouraging such things...But i guess we are just 10 years away from doing what we used to do best many hundreds of years ago...
