Indian industry failed to capitalise on three earlier occasions to become global leaders in the areas of colour television, personal computer and mobile phones. However, the last chance, which is available now, is in the area of education, according to Mr Gopal Srinivasan, Chairman, TVS Capial Funds Ltd.

In 1981, when the colour television came into the market Indian did not capitalise on it. The personal computer gave the next great opportunity but the industry missed it. The next big chance was mobile phone, which too was not capitalised on. This is despite the fact that India consumes nearly 20 per cent of mobile phones manufactured in the world, he told at a seminar on EduVision 2011 - Technovating Education: Preparing India for 2020.

“Education is the fourth and last area of opportunity for India to seize, and take to the level of personal computer industry,” he said at the seminar organised by the Manufacturers' Association for Information Technology (MAIT).

According to Dr Alok Bharadwaj, President of the association, innovation is what creates value, and this can be achieved only by making education more effective. it is critical that Indian companies should have a larger intellectual contribution in terms of design and development to the products that are manufactured in the country. For instance, in China, the contribution by local manufacturer is nearly 40 per cent while in India it is 6-7 per cent. Similarly, in designing chips in Silicon Valley, the local contribution is around 50 per cent, he said.

Mr Atul Anand, Managing Director, Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu, said the Tamil Nadu Government will put in place a congenial environment for electronics hardware manufacturing.

> raja@thehindu.co.in

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