- India lacks a competitive R&D setup to produce next-gen global products in AI
- India is currently one-twentieth the size of the US in developing foundational IP
- Building foundational IP requires capital Indian companies currently lack
Despite having IT giants like Infosys, Wipro and TCS among others, India has lagged in developing a cutthroat research and development (R&D) setup that can churn out the next big global product. While the world moves ahead with the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution, India is yet to come up with a company that can compete with the likes of Google and OpenAI. Quizzed why such was the case, market expert Saurabh Mukherjea stated that India was still not in the position to develop them.
Mr Mukherjea, founder of Marcellus Investment Managers, a portfolio-management services firm, was speaking on a podcast hosted by finance creator Kushal Lodha when he stated that India was still in the early part of its economic revolution and developing original intellectual property (IP) remains an expensive endeavour.
"We're one-twentieth the size of America. It takes Rs 10, 20, and Rs 30 billion to build foundational IP. People in India ask, why don't we make new drugs? Why not foundational AI models like China? But they don't realise how much capital that takes. Indian companies just don't have that kind of money," said Mr Mukherjea, adding that the current situation is not due to lack of innovation or talent but structural economics.
"We don't need to reinvent the wheel. Not yet," he said. "If we use established IP properly, we'll still make a lot of money, and build great companies."
Infosys and OpenAI
While India is yet to create tech giants from scratch, its big names have hesitated to take the risk and innovate themselves. For example, Infosys under former CEO Vishal Sikka was close to investing in OpenAI but the vision seemingly did not align with co-founder Narayan Murthy's view of the technology.
The missed opportunity now reflects poorly on the company as OpenAI has become a global leader in AI which is set to dominate the landscape in the coming years.
Previously, Mr Mukherjea predicted that India had entered a new economic phase this decade where "salaried employment as a worthwhile avenue" was expected to face a "gradual demise".
"I think the defining flavour of this decade will be effectively the death of salaried employment, the gradual demise of salary employment as a worthwhile avenue for educated, determined, hardworking people," Mr Mukherjea said.
