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Our Bureau

`Deepen capital into businesses, households, educational institutions & Government'

Chennai , Sept. 9

It was time to celebrate and recognise the success of IT entrepreneurs belonging to Tamil Nadu who had done something big for the State. At the Connect2006, this year's ICT event of Tamil Nadu, Mr Shiv Nadar of HCL, Mr Arun Jain of Polaris Software Lab, Mr Kumar Mahadeva of Cognizant Technology Solution and Mr G. Vishwanathan, Chancellor, Vellore Institute of Technology, were given the ICICI Venture-CII Connect 2006 Entrepreneur Awards on Friday.

Mr Nadar, who was born in Tiruchendur in Tamil Nadu and who is on the Forbes List of the world's richest people, was awarded the entrepreneur from the State who made a lasting impact on information, communication and technology (ICT) in India and the world.

Three mantras

"Aspire high, listen to distant signals and do not take past as continuation, which will go into the future. Put these three together, it will stack up," Mr Nadar told the gathering after receiving the award from Union Minister of Communications and Technology, Mr Dayanidhi Maran.

In 1976, Mr Nadar started HCL, which today is a $ 3.8 billion company employing 37,000 employees globally.

Mr Arun Jain who got the award for the entrepreneur who contributed significantly to developing Tamil Nadu as a centre of ICT excellence, said talent, efficiency, innovation, vision and commitment are important to be a successful entrepreneur.

Positive environment

Tamil Nadu had a positive environment in all these areas with abundant entrepreneurs. "Ethical values brought me to the State. Chennai's value system is very right for entrepreneurs," he said.

Mr Jain, who came from Delhi and started Polaris in Chennai in 1984, said: "My biggest asset then was my scooter and the IBM typewriter that I bought for Rs 10,000 in an auction." Today, the $ 180 million company has over 5,000 employees globally, he said.

Cognizant's founder Mr Mahadeva got the award for entrepreneur for building a global business with Tamil Nadu as an outsourcing hub. The company's President and CEO, Mr Lakshmi Narayanan, received the award on his behalf.

In his speech through a video conference from NewYork, Mr Mahadeva said India's infrastructure did not keep pace with the growth of the ICT sector.

He urged the Tamil Nadu Government to take the lead in addressing this concern. "If this issue is addressed, there would be many more companies such as Cognizant in the State," he said.

Mr G. Viswanathan, Chancellor, Vellore Institute of Technology, who was given the award for fostering development of enabling resources to help make the State as an ICT hub, said his message to people was not to send children to schools that who do not have computers. He urged Mr Maran to provide infrastructure to colleges, provide Internet at a nominal charge to educational institutions and help the private institutes get World Bank aid.

`Under-investing?'

Mr Maran said: "Are we under investing in the domestic sector?" The IT capital base in India is 3.5 per cent of the total capital base. This is woefully behind the global norm of 10 per cent. Similarly, the country has 1.48 personal computers per 100 population, whereas the average PC penetration in under invested economies is 12 per 100. Broadband is less than one per cent in India compared to the average of 16 per cent.

"How do we deepen the IT capital into businesses, households, educational institutions and government? How do we geographically disperse this IT capital deepening effort to secondary cities and rural areas? These are major issues to be looked at," he said.

"As entrepreneurs, are we investing innovatively? That, to me, is the key challenge today," he said.

"If this issue is addressed, there would be many more companies such as Cognizant in the State," he said.

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