ET Bureau India is likely to see a pickup in the pace of entrepreneurship in the next five years, said Soumitra Dutta, the founding dean of the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business at Cornell University, two of whose faculty members are currently teaching at the Bennett University. In an interview to ET, he said that the professors of the Ivy League institution are also learning from the Indian context. He spoke about the challenges the Indian economy faces as well as how entrepreneurs can concentrate on social and economic value creation. Edited Excerpts:
How is India faring in terms of entrepreneurship?
India is in a good position of innovation but clearly there’s much more to be done. There is tremendous human talent in India. The challenge is in increasing the pace of change and moving up the excellence ladder. When it comes to universities, India has a few good ones. We need more good and excellent ones, especially in terms of infrastructure. India’s gross expenditure on research and development (GERD) or India’s spend on research and development is under 1% of the GDP while the United States spends 2.74%, China 2.10% and Japan 3.58%. What also concerns me is that gap that exists between the efforts of India and the best in the world.
How will the current economic scenario affect entrepreneurship?
My view is that India’s challenge is finding sustained growth. People are questioning and challenging this. The GST is a short-term pain and will be good for the economy in the future. It will bring a lot of small companies into the formal economy. I think there’s a short-term blip right now and it’s an unfortunate combination of the GST and demonetisation coming together. My sense is that the general sense of confidence is high and that will push entrepreneurship pace. The thing that entrepreneurs hate the most is uncertainty, and what’s happened is that now there’s much lower level of uncertainty. There was some foundation work that has been done. My sense is that the next five years and more will be a good time in India’s economy. There are a lot of good plans being put in place.
How can there be economic and social value creation in jobs in India?
The only way to create jobs is to have a social objective at the same time and create the required jobs. Even if you make it simple for someone to open a small enterprise for business, that person is creating jobs in the process, leading to economic value creation and also social value creation.
How is India faring in terms of entrepreneurship?
India is in a good position of innovation but clearly there’s much more to be done. There is tremendous human talent in India. The challenge is in increasing the pace of change and moving up the excellence ladder. When it comes to universities, India has a few good ones. We need more good and excellent ones, especially in terms of infrastructure. India’s gross expenditure on research and development (GERD) or India’s spend on research and development is under 1% of the GDP while the United States spends 2.74%, China 2.10% and Japan 3.58%. What also concerns me is that gap that exists between the efforts of India and the best in the world.
How will the current economic scenario affect entrepreneurship?
My view is that India’s challenge is finding sustained growth. People are questioning and challenging this. The GST is a short-term pain and will be good for the economy in the future. It will bring a lot of small companies into the formal economy. I think there’s a short-term blip right now and it’s an unfortunate combination of the GST and demonetisation coming together. My sense is that the general sense of confidence is high and that will push entrepreneurship pace. The thing that entrepreneurs hate the most is uncertainty, and what’s happened is that now there’s much lower level of uncertainty. There was some foundation work that has been done. My sense is that the next five years and more will be a good time in India’s economy. There are a lot of good plans being put in place.
How can there be economic and social value creation in jobs in India?
The only way to create jobs is to have a social objective at the same time and create the required jobs. Even if you make it simple for someone to open a small enterprise for business, that person is creating jobs in the process, leading to economic value creation and also social value creation.
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