Can India be the next destination to produce giant technology companies like Microsoft and Apple? A growing number of experts in Silicon Valley feel that this is very much possible. A program to look for Indian tech companies producing gadgets and offering services to a global audience was initiated this week by an entrepreneur body’s Silicon Valley Chapter to find if these companies can go on to become billion dollar company or not.
TIE aims to find Indian companies that can become huge in future
This program has the aim to put spotlight on India to identify companies that have the potential to become huge in the time to come. Raju Reddy who is in the board of directors in Hitachi Consulting Corp was present at an event that was used to launch this program. He said, ‘’this program aims to shine a spotlight on India as a great source of…the next generation of product companies.”
The trend was there even in the nineties
There are many who see this program as the beginning of a new era for Indian companies in the world of technology. It is not the first time that the world has evinced interest in Indian technology companies. The same trend was seen during the nineties when technology companies like Infosys, TCS, and Wipro caught the imagination of the west with their expertise in the field of outsourcing. These tech companies have grown at an amazing rate in the last 15-20 years and recognized as giants and world beaters at their game. Companies in the west and also in Europe have gained tremendously because of their services as they have offered cheap and very effective technology related services.
Even a small country like Israel is ahead of India in this aspect
However, despite the fairytale success of these technology companies, India has been unable to come up with companies manufacturing technology products. No company in India can even come close to a company like Microsoft or Apple. Even a small country like Israel developed a company like Maze that produced navigation apps. This company was ultimately bought by Google last year for nearly $1 billion.
There is a group called The Indus Entrepreneurs or simply TIE. This group wants to utilize the presence of Indian techies in Silicon Valley so as to be able to nurture technology related startups in India. This group plans to turn such startups into future billion dollar companies that it refers to as Unicorn Club. This group, which is a not for profit organization, is made up of computer experts and professionals working in the Silicon Valley.
For a start, TIE has identified three companies in India that it sees as future members of Unicorn Club. TIE has provided office space to these companies in the US and also [providing help and assistance to secure business inside the country. This is not all as one of the founders of each of these companies is invited over to the US and gets mentoring from techies of Indian origin working in giant US companies such as Microsoft, SAP, Apple etc.
The companies that have been chosen in the first phase of this program are Seclore technology Pvt. Ltd, Sokrati Technologies Pvt. Ltd, and Vinculum Solutions Pvt. Ltd. Sokrati is a Pune based company that makes algorithms to help companies save money on their digital marketing campaigns. Seclore is a Mumbai based company that makes security related software. Vinculum makes software to help companies achieve their sales targets.
Three companies identified by TIE
All three companies have lots of clients in India but they have also started to find customers in foreign countries. Only a year ago, Sokrati earned 10% of its revenues from sales abroad but today this share has gone up to 33%. According to Seclore, there are 9 governments around the globe that make use of its software to secure their national secrets. It hopes that association with TIE will help the company to find new openings. Co-founder of Seclore, Abhijit Tannu, said,“The India technology community in the U.S. is pretty strong and fairly well-connected.”He compared Indian diaspora in US with Israeli diaspora that has benefitted Israeli companies back home in no uncertain terms. He says that when Israel with just 8 million people can come up with billion dollar companies, why India cannot do it.In fact, it is a matter of national pride for Indian companies if they look at small countries like Israel, Finland, and Sweden etc.
Not many people know that nearly half of the companies founded in Silicon Valley have Indian entrepreneurs behind them. This clearly demonstrates the abilities and skills of Indian entrepreneurs. With an initiative from TIE, one can hope to see a global Indian technology company making products and not just offering services in the next few years.
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About Sanjay Tandon
Sanjay Tandon is a graduate engineer from IIT Varanasi. He has been writing as a freelancer for many years. He loves to write on various niches. He is passionate about politics and economy and spends his free time watching news channels. He is also an expert on relationships.
