SANTA CLARA, May 8: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is doing a phenomenal job in making India rise again and make a mark on the global stage, a Silicon Valley-based tech entrepreneur has said.
“Objectively speaking, when you look at the sentiment in India or the sentiment globally about India, the only observation you have is that Mr Modi is doing a phenomenal job of making India rise again on the world stage,” Sandeep Bhat, the co-founder of Devicethread, a startup aimed at revolutionising the hospitality industry by connecting digital and physical infrastructure, told PTI in an interview.
“That’s my personal sentiment for sure. I cannot speak for TiE, but I am a big fan of Modi at a personal level, and I hope that his leadership takes India to the next stage in the coming years,” said Bhat, a board member of TiE Silicon Valley.
Noting that India has witnessed a lot of development in the last 10 years, he said one “cannot deny” that India is making progress by leaps and bounds.
“Some of the vision outlined by the government is also along the right lines, but more execution is needed. Sometimes there is a gap between the vision and the reality on the ground. So, we have to continue to unlock the potential, we have to continue to help remove the obstacles,” the entrepreneur said on the sidelines of the annual TiECon conference here last week.
“For example, many things that you get done here, if I were to, let’s say, start a new venture and launch a corporation, I can do it really fast here. If I want to close that corporation, I can also do it really fast here. But India doesn’t yet have as much of a speed (in these areas),” he explained.
Bhat said every entrepreneur wants to foray into the Indian market, adding that all India has to do is to make it easier to conduct business in the country.
He said he was told by those in his manufacturing network that it was easy to set up a manufacturing business in China, adding, “Everything aligned there to make it (the business) happen.”
“India can achieve the same thing,” Bhat pointed out, saying, “So, we need to get our internal house in order at the local level, at every city level. And the opportunities will start coming. India will become a USD 10 trillion economy, one of the largest economies in the world, in no time as a result of that.”
Sharing the latest focus areas of TiE, Bhat said the organisation is now bringing changes favouring the youth and women, he said.
“If you look at the world of technology or Silicon Valley and the demographics that make that impact, it makes sense for TiE to be representative of their demographic. Another thing we want to make sure of is we are encouraging the youth to be part of TiE to benefit from it,” he added. This year, TiE has reached out to universities and startups.
“A platform like TiE is very appealing to them. So we tapped into that sort of demand and found the university ecosystem quite responsive to that as well. So, we combined startups and universities with seasoned industry leaders from corporations, among others, and brought them together under this one umbrella,” he said in response to a question. (PTI)
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