Can India become a product nation?

Nine CEOs and investors got together in Bangalore to discuss on whether India can become a product nation. Part of Business Today's 'CEOs at Lunch' series, the debate evoked passionate opinions. The event was hosted by Taj West End and sponsored by Wave. Josey Puliyenthuruthel, Managing Editor, BT, moderated the discussion. 

Ravi Gururaj, Chair, Nasscom Product Council, said many disruptive product companies can mushroom in India over the next 10 years. It takes less capital to start a company now, while there is more capital available for start-up firms. Also, technology has been democratised - what is available to Google, for instance, is also available to Indian firms.

Shoaib Ahmed, President, Tally Solutions, said that the product ecosystem is India is fast maturing. There is, however, an urgent need to deal with the DNA of the nation, which is its services mindset.

Kallol Borah, CEO, Lukup Media, said that while there is a lot of money in the product ecosystem right now, it is wrong to be motivated by valuations. Focus on the product and get it right.

V. Balakrishnan, Founder & Chairman, Exfinity, a private equity fund, said that Bangalore can become a second Silicon Valley. There are 1,000 new companies (start-ups) in Bangalore every year. The city, he said, has a lot of experienced professionals from the IT services industry who now want to work with product companies. On the other hand, fresh graduates from colleges and young professionals are also willing to take risks doing start-ups.

N.R.K. Raman, an investor, said that barriers that product companies faced a decade back have vanished. Unlike previous years, investors are not enamoured by services businesses. They are willing to fund product companies and stay invested for a longer time.

Shekhar Kirani of venture capital fund Accel said that India has missed the boat in creating telecom products for the domestic market. There is also little happening in aerospace and biotech. However, he is hopeful of software products. The world is buying; companies globally are replacing old software with new and that presents an opportunity for Indian companies.

Poornima Shenoy, Founder & CEO, Latitude Edutech, pointed to a pertinent problem that relates to developing more product professionals. The administration of colleges, beyond the top league, is not aware of product companies. Students are, therefore, not seeing and hearing enough success stories.

Subhash Dhar, Founder, EnterpriseNube, said that to think small would be a big mistake. Start-ups should think global because it is a "flat world". Indian product firms, he added, need to think in terms of domination, rather than turn to the market seeking protection.

Srini Rajam, Founder, Ittiam, said that the biggest challenge before Indian companies is marketing - understanding trends and defining the product. "What to do is more challenging than how to do," he said.

Josey John, Managing Editor of Business Today, moderated the discussion.