Panaji: “For India to achieve leadership in the 21st century, to build a new India of our dreams, we have to build it through innovative, entrepreneurial, large-scale companies,” Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha said on Saturday.
“We have to create our own Googles, Facebooks, Ali Babas and Tencents,” said Mr. Sinha participating in the India Ideas conclave organised by India Foundation in South Goa here.
“We should talk about super unicorns, but we should not even be satisfied with the idea of super unicorns; we should really ask ourselves, how we can build mega unicorns. Because if we build companies of that scale, scope and size, that’s how we will achieve economic leadership. That is how we will create economic opportunities for all of our people, that can create millions and millions of jobs and really drive our GDP from $2.5 trillion to $5 trillion. And unless we build companies of that scale and scope, we are never going to achieve that leadership,” said Mr. Sinha.
The IT BPO industry has been critical to growth of Indian GDP. To go forward, “we do not need just one such sector, we need five-ten such sector. We need large-scale companies.” he added.
Stating that US today is the entrepreneurial engine, the innovation hub of the top $ 1 billion people on this planet, he said that it was mostly of the most affluent people on the planet. But India, he said, has the opportunity to become the entrepreneurial engine for the next six billion people on the planet. and has to solve from India’s design point.
“I always ask our entrepreneurs, don’t solve the problems of Pike Place in Seattle, don’t solve the problems of Union Square in San Francisco, you have to solve Jhanda Chowk’s problems. We have to solve India’s problems. We have to develop products and services for our people, because if we develop it for our people, The same products and services can be used in Indonesia and Vietnam, in Egypt, in Bolivia, in Nigeria, in Gabon. So if we want to seize leadership in the 21st century, India has to become the entrepreneurial engineof the next six billion people on the planet,” he said.
Speaking about varied sectors, he said, India has the cheapest telecom services, motorcycles, financial services, and also the most affordable ice cream.
Mr. Sinha said that India today consumes more mobile data than any other country, even though the number of smart phones it has is far less than in China. And it is happening in sector after sector after sector and it is building great companies, large companies, companies that are going to be global champions and that’s how you become a leader in the 21st century, he said.
Lauding drone technology, Mr. Sinha said what was possible today with drone technology was astonishing.
“I have coined this term where I say let us go out and build an air rickshaw and from an engineering point of view, I think it is possible for us to hit the ₹ 4 to ₹5 per km with an air rickshaw. So, we can have air rickshaws that will compete with auto rickshaws in the next 10 or 15 or 20 years. And if we can solve that, we will absolutely solve India’s traffic problems,” said Mr. Sinha.
