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WILKINS@hws.edu
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Remember: for one fifth of the planet, Indians still represent far, far, far
less of the planet's wealth than they did just before the British arrived. The
top Indian commercial fortune is 3.5 bn; the total number of billionaires is
about 5, four families in India and whatever Prabhu Goel's options are worth
today. At about 100mn, Sabeer Bhatia's Hotmail fortune probably puts him in
Mulchandani, an Indian marketing phenomenon").

But just compare this meager census with the Chinese diaspora's influence...
hell, at this point China's adding an entire Indian telephone network *each
year* and we're battling a state IP monopoly. Who's the market economy, again?

Rohit

Most of the info scattered here came from www.siliconinidia.com...

Computer Associates just picked up a $150mn or so payday after a tenfold rise
in their stock -- but the two guys above him split another half-billion.

This is all quite separate from power, to be sure. Not that there are many
Indians in the "power digerati", but there is the occasional Vinod Dham,
"Father of the Pentium". Or Abhay Bhushan, who wrote the original FTP
protocols at MIT, but then vanished out of the IETF community to run a few
seminconductor startups.

Sure, it's nice to be able to think "most successful Indian entrepreneur in
history" is still a settable record -- but it will be a far more important
accomplishment to become a power broker on the order of a Metcalfe or Dyson
and truly lead the industry, rather than following around executing plans to
capture market crumbs, as we have so far.

After all, the guy *I'd* like to meet is the 25-year-old head of Akai's TV
partner in Bombay, who cracked the code of selling to the fabled Indian middle
class (Profile in this week's Economist Business section "Face value: Kabir
Mulchandani, an Indian marketing phenomenon").

But just compare this meager census with the Chinese diaspora's influence...
hell, at this point China's adding an entire Indian telephone network *each
year* and we're battling a state IP monopoly. Who's the market economy, again?

Rohit

Most of the info scattered here came from www.siliconinidia.com...