India Inc is failing the country in AI and deep tech due to its dhandho mindset
On Friday, there was another harrowing day in India's stock market. The IT stocks, yet again, took a beating with Infosys ending the day around
On Friday, there was another harrowing day in India's stock market. The IT stocks, yet again, took a beating with Infosys ending the day around 6 per cent down. It was one of many such harrowing days the Indian stock market has seen this year. It is going to be one of many such harrowing days that the Indian stock market will continue to see this year. All because India Inc can’t muster the courage to do what it should have done years ago. Read Full Story Let’s start with the tale of two AI products. Sarvam AI, at least from the looks of it, is arguably the best AI model in India at the moment. Yet, reports suggest Sarvam has struggled to raise enough money to move to the next stage. Although last Monday the company announced Series B funding of $300 million, it pales in comparison to what even small AI companies are raising in the US and China. For several reasons, global investors like Softbank have been wary of Sarvam. But a bigger tragedy is that no Indian company, except HCL Tech, has stepped forward. Not TCS, not Infosys, not Reliance, not Tata. No one is willing to put in a billion or two in it. Then there is Peter Steinberger, an Austrian engineer who went viral in January. Few had heard his name earlier. In January, Steinberger became one of the most discussed names among the tech bros sipping craft beer in bars of San Francisco. He had created ClawdBot, later renamed OpenClaw, and had set the world of AI on fire. Within days, his phone too was on fire, with calls coming in from the biggest billionaires of Silicon Valley. OpenClaw as a product is not exactly cutting-edge technology. It was more of a hobby project for Steinberger. But the idea seemed sound. In Valley a good idea in hand is worth two birds in the bush. OpenClaw was in demand. In mere two weeks, Steinberger announced he was joining OpenAI. Sam Altman reportedly spent tens of millions of dollars — exact figure has not been made public — to get Steinberger and OpenClaw. I talk about OpenClaw and Steinberger to highlight how Silicon Valley companies move. As well as the difference with which ideas like OpenClaw and Sarvam AI are treated, merely because they exist in different parts of the world.
Silicon Valley companies are constantly punting. Even when they are not big, they are burning money on ideas that may or may not result in something substantial. They punt even if it flies in the face of common sense, logic and practicality. They are the exact opposite of the dhandho mindset, which rules the boardrooms inside India Inc. The cracks in the Indian IT story have been visible earlier as well, but now they threaten to bring down the entire edifice. AI and deep tech are remaking the world. In this new world, India is looking like a loser because its companies, including the storied giants like TCS and Infosys, are pusillanimous. They are too much of cowards to dream beyond their billable hours and dividends. They have money but little foresight and imagination. The most innovative they have been so far is in creating a mechanism that lets them hire entry-level engineers at a package of 4LPA and then charge the clients, so the company can earn Rs 4.5 LPA from each of its engineers. Though, why single out the IT giants. India Inc on the whole is failing the country. Indian IT giants are looking at adverse business prospects due to AI tools from Anthropic, Google and OpenAI. The BSE and NSE have taken a beating because money is moving out in search of AI and deep tech stocks, which India cannot offer. The bull is surging and dancing in Taiwan and South Korea but not in India. Not just the stocks and business prospects, India now risks losing its strategic position in the world because India Inc cannot look beyond its current balance sheet. Last week, the US banned the use of advanced AI tools like Mythos and Fable 5 for the rest of the world. The move has already led to a lot of handwringing in the Indian spaces on X. Zoho’s Sridhar Vembu wrote, “Globalisation is dead and Bharat must find her own way ahead.” Indeed, Bharat must. But how can it when India Inc refuses to invest in R&D and betting on ideas? How can it when there is not a single Indian company, even among the giants like TCS and Reliance and Infosys, that would dare to spend some $10 million (around Rs 95 crore) on a two-week old idea?
The BriefWire