I raised a similarly question on Quora. Got no reply. Is the topic a taboo? or too absurd? or an understood fact with little to discuss? or is it just me ranting?
Infosys, TCS, Wipro, Cognizant – these are the poster boys of shining new India’s success story. Our export revenues are $60billion. Thailand exports more fish.
My Question: Can any mid-to-large size Indian company claim to compete with their US counterparts on the basis of ‘value added’ and not ‘cost’?
An effective indicator of efficiency of companies is revenue/employee. Infosys has revenue/employee of around Rs. 24lakh. Accenture? Around 56lakh. (Accenture has a considerable base in India). I wouldn’t bring in Google or Apple here. They have no counterparts in India.
Is India simply the China of software manufacturing?
Indian colleges are spurting out engineers at a breathtaking speed, yet we have no Google, no Apple. Not even an Accenture. All we have is a bunch of profit-making consultancy firms. Why the lack of product-focused companies? So, where do we lack? Government regulations? Seriously, whom are you fooling?
Another small question: I’ve used Banking Softwares developed by TCS and Infosys. They’re plain ugly. Tally isn’t very appealing either. Rediff – India’s top news portal – looks like a run-of-the-mill site. I can’t remember one good Indian software / site which has a good user interface and an aesthetically pleasing design. Do we have no taste?
Nishant Agrawal
1. No Product Based Companies.
Yes, domestic market is hardly present. But my point did encompass making products for the West. Adobe, Intuit – we could have done this stuff if we had the talent.
2. Macroeconomic Reality
Seems like a just reason. The big IT companies never fall short of employees, unlike their American counterparts. No wonder their profit margins are in the range of 20%+, compared to 10%- in the US.
But I’m not fully convinced. I still believe it’s more about inefficiency – though excess supply also contributes.
3. Lack Demand
Disposable income here is minuscule. But it’s also a culture thing. SaaS will change that.
I believe the root of all problems is our education system. We have a burgeoning population, and just a handful of good colleges all over the country. And I don’t see this problem fixing soon. Things are always easy when one starts anew. But fixing something so complex and deep-rooted – it ain’t easy!