The Indian IT sector has been growing in leaps and bounds, especially in the past decade and a half. Whilst this industry can be broken into two major arms, the IT services and BPO, it is the former which is making huge contribution to India’s GDP — from a paltry 1.2% in 1998 to almost 8% in 2018. Moreover, almost 50% of American outsourcing in this area is cornered by Indian by companies. In sheer dollar terms, it amounts to $90 billion. These figures are for the year 2017-18.
But, the question many of you may ask is, why am I talking about IT services. Isn’t this post about congratulating Mr. Sundar Pichai for his exponential rise? Patience, I am getting there. Allow me to deviate from the actual purpose for a couple of paragraphs, and when I do catch up with the real subject everything will make sense to you.
The point I am trying to make is — we Indians are amazing programmers, super cool engineers and we also possess distinct talent when it comes to new ideas and product development. For example, our IT services companies may be running most of the banking software across the world. We may be making life easier for project managers when it comes to inventory control or real time billing, but we have never given this world a world class search engine or an intelligent and robust Operating System.
Getting my point? No, let me explain this a little further. I believe our folks are exceptional when it comes to leading companies, developing complementing and out of the box products but lack that risk taking virtue, that adventurous entrepreneurship. The reason is because it has been embedded in our DNA and nurtured by our culture.
The proof to above summation is the number of Indians who run global corporations. Whether it Google, Adobe, Microsoft, Master Card or PepsiCo, Indians seem to rise patiently to the top and turn these companies in legends. Do I make sense now? Coming to Google, the recent elevation of Sundar Pichai as Alphabet-Google CEO only cements the above theory further. So, what is it that makes Indians special? I’ve already mentioned some of the ideal virtues in the introduction, but let me add two more qualities which are rather invisible – discipline and dedication.
Born on July 12, 1972, in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, Sundar Pichai did his B.Tech in Metallurgical Engineering from IIT Kharagpur. Later, he won a scholarship to study materials science and semiconductor physics from Stanford University. His education culminated with a Master’s degree. After negotiating several career landscapes he joined Google in 2004. As a product manager he conceptualised and then developed several products for Google including Chrome, Chrome OS and a bouquet of related and non-related merchandise such as Chrome cast etc.
An acknowledged ideator and a genius when it came to actually transforming ideas into real life working products Sundar Pichai was the brain behind the success of Chrome brand. It started in 2008 with the launch of browser and later other complementing goods followed. However, it was not easy for him as he had to convince his seniors to launch Chrome browser amidst resistance and reservations. After its overwhelming success, Chrome O.S was introduced which set up the platform for a roller coaster ride of stupendous success for this visionary technocrat.
Sundar Pichai through sheer perseverance has taken Google to a different level altogether. He deserves a standing ovation and a befitting accolade. I for one salute his foresight and his ideation. Congratulations Mr. Sundar Pichai!
Author [ Pankaj Jaiswal ] is Managing Director of Dotcom Services India Pvt Ltd (https://www.worldindia.com) & Netlynx Technologies Pvt Ltd (https://www.netlynx.com). He also hold Management Roles in Netlynx Inc , USA (https://www.netlynxinc.com) & Netlynx Tech, Canada (https://www.netlynx.ca).