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Indian Software Engineers – What’s Wrong With Them?

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?

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  1. 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!

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