Bank of Baroda chairman Ravi Venkatesan on Friday (30 September) said that it will be a big challenge for India to catch up with the on-going fourth industrial revolution which is characterised by scientific innovation and robotics.
"The kind of system we have makes it nearly impossible to develop a company like Apple or Google. Most of our startups are just a copy paste of America's successful startups," he said.
"I wonder when the next Google or Apple will come from India. The answer is not never but we have to create a system like the United States and invest in it," he added.
The US defence department spends a large amount of money in innovation and R&D. Company like Apple has benefitted a lot by the scheme.
Venkatesan said that because of the system and the immigration policy US has been able to attract best minds from all over the world.
He added: "It is no accident they prude tech giants and lead the way".
India on the other hand lags far behind in cultivating and nurturing bright young mind as it has limited funding and place. IITs and NITs stands nowhere near MITs and Harvard.
He said that with the new technology lots of existing jobs will be lost and new one will be created. "With the rise of robots, educated people are losing jobs in office. The real issue arises weather more jobs will be created or lost."
Last year China deployed more robots than people. Hiring in the Indian IT industry is shrinking.
Venkatesan went on to add that out of the 10 new and high paying jobs created in the future, India may get none.
"We may only become market for innovation or a place of low or mid income jobs if we are not able to catch the disruption or become a place of disruption," he said.
BW Reporters
The author is Senior Correspondent with BW Businessworld
