Saturday, December 18, 2010

Is an Indian Google or Microsoft really inevitable?

I don't think so. US population is 25% of Indian Population, But Internet Population of India is about 6-8 crores, i.e. 60-80 million only, whereas US internet Population is more than 250 million or 25 crore. So, India has only 25% of people , as compared to US who have the basic resource to start something of a scale as big as Microsoft. And, internet is just the most fundamental resource. Second, India   is producing a little less than 10 lakh or 1 million engineers every year, out of which more than 75% are unemployable according to a mackinsey survey(google it to find this survey). Can you expect them to become an entrepreneur in Technology sector, who are not even employable? The Simple answer is no. So, that means only a 0.2 million or 2 lac . http://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/2009/pdf/19_2009.pdf According to this report of National centre for Education, in 2000-01, 2,569,200 students graduated from high schools in the United States, and in 2005-06 the number was 2,815,544.  As with all statistics, they are a general guide, not necessarily gospel truth. So, I assume US produces around 10 lac or 1 million Science or tech graduates every year, almost same as India. But the quality of education in India and US, you all know the difference. There only those students opt to go to undergrad school, who are really interested in studying their subjects. So, I assume U.S. has at least around 4 times more graduates(read employable graduates) in Science and Technology than India. Third, India has a very different social system than U.S., which works as a detterent for building an entreneur. When we Indians reach 25, we have to start thinking of marriage. So, A lot of people, although having those entreneurial abilities, tend to find a fixed income source, by which he or she would be able to support his or her family. And, in India, you have to first slog hard as a student to get a regular job, and most of the engineering grads have to spend at least half a year to build social network, all thanks to the unethical and non-transparent ways, the recruitment is done by companies at studies. After that you have to work for least 8 hours to cover for those basic costs of living, and save a little bit for emergency. But, In US, you can very easily join and leave a basic job which can pay you at least to cover for the basic cost of living.  So, do you still think that India has more chances of starting the next google or microsoft?