India: from IT consulting leader to booming entrepreneurial technology sector
I can ascertain the change, a drift, where the VC’s of technology sector have begun to gain interest in Indian startups and measuring its unlock potential
Late 90's the advent of Infosys, Wipro, TCS etc. had started the outsourcing culture which brought 1000's of IT jobs. A decade later this trend continued making India largest IT sector and a country with millions of software professional. This brought better paying jobs to India and also a chance to go and explore different parts of the world. Currently, so-called cool and trendy Indian generation influenced from the Western world, is working together to build a powerful techno ecosystem. This has given them more power to spend and thus booming the mobile and e-commerce industry.
Six years ago I came to United states for higher studies and to figure out how silicon valley is different than India IT industry. At that time in India, IT culture was to work for big IT consulting/product companies and get paycheck, come on-site and earn $$$.
The general conversation among Indian techies were “Hey person A has been in UK/US for 4 yrs., earning great $$$.” or “I could join Company A, since it would send me on-site with 6 months”. “Hey, there is a small startup, open next to a big building of X, is it a good option to join it since it will not be able to give me big bucks or send on-site.”
Buts it’s changing now !!
In last few years I have observed change in mindset of people as they have started believing in local startup ecosystem. Flipkart, Redbus, Snapdeal, Zomato etc are great example of succcessful companies inhabited in India and targeting local consumer. This has set the stage and the boost to Indian startup ecosystem. Young engineers are more inclined in joining a start up or launching their own business , rather than joining a big consulting company.
To give few examples:
Rebus acquired for 138 million $
BookMyshow funding 43 million$
Yourstory great indian blog for startups
Y-Combinator has Indian startups.
Not to mention that OlaCabs and SnapDeal are funded by Softbank the giant behind Alibaba success.
Above instances highlight increasing consumer demands and a huge potential of reaching out to them. Note: 64% working class of 1.2 billion people.
What’s next?
Young guns are all set to fire !!.
The industry is at a very interesting stage and I see a huge boost in the Indian startup ecosystem and more funds were ingested hair. Also, I am hoping that current trend setters will be able to act as mentors and help nurture the booming startup India scene. And someday the innovative ideas will start flowing from East to West.
