

BVR Mohan Reddy
BVR Mohan ReddyChairman, Nasscom

Students need to be job creators, not job seekers

Feb 04, 2016, 10.03 AM IST
There's scope for Indian startups

Propelled by technology and business services, the Indian economy has witnessed unprecedented growth in recent years.

While the current IT-BPM industry is set to grow further from a mature base of $146 billion, the next twenty years will see a parallel acceleration in the technology economy, powered by startups.

The last few years have laid the foundation for this ecosystem to flourish. With 3-4 startups emerging every day, India is now the third-largest startup ecosystem in the world.

Startups now employ over 80,000 people and some 72% of the founders are less than 35-years old, making India home to the youngest entrepreneurs in the world.

India's startups also have a different and more frugal character compared to peers in the Silicon Valley given the lowcost needs of consumers and businesses here.

For example, India has the world's largest dairy herd and is the third largest producer of eggs and the sixth largest pro ducer of poultry meat, globally.

Animal husbandry constitutes a quarter of total agricultural output, and hence, a large number of farmers depend on this for their livelihood.

However, this income is vulnerable to the sudden spread of epidemics.

A Kochi-based biotech startup is helping farmers detect diseases such as foot-and-mouth at an early stage at costs of justRs45 to Rs150 per kit.

Another technology startup from Bengaluru is helping farmers increase crop yield by 15%. They build products that help in sensing soil temperature and moisture levels, and regulate water flow accordingly .

Such products can help over 720 million people who are dependent on agriculture and monsoon for their living and produce 15% of India's GDP.

In healthcare, a Mumbai-based medical devices firm is helping diagnose anaemia without even drawing blood from the patient.

Some of these medical innovations are not only low-cost, but they also help seed further innovation.

If Indian startups can dominate the affordable medicine segment, it will showcase India as a low-cost manufacturing destination and also a premier location for research, design and product development.

There is also an opportunity to build for India and expand to Asia-Pacific, Latin America and Africa where the markets for frugal engineering are similar to ours.

We need to encourage students to become job creators and not just job seekers. They should learn to challenge the status quo, take risks and create, as opposed to simply absorb.

As a nation, we should celebrate entrepreneurs as heroes, much like we do with cricket and Bollywood stars.

A single startup in the Silicon Valley - which did not exist 12 years ago - Facebook, is now worth $270 billion.

A single startup in China - which did not exist 16 years ago - Alibaba, is worth over $170 billion.

There's a reasonable chance India will produce startups of similar impact and outcome.


About BVR Mohan Reddy

The writer is the chairman of Nasscom