“This Budget belongs to ‘Aam Aadmi’. It belongs to the farmer, the agriculturist, the entrepreneur and the investor. The opportunity is great. The time is right. I have placed my faith in the hands of the people who, I know,…
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All posts filed under “Essays”
What The Budget Means For Entrepreneurs
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee will be presenting Union Budget 2010, the annual economic policy statement of the Government of India, on Friday. In most nations, this would be insignificant, but the Budget is probably the most significant annual event for…
Scrapping The Securities Transaction Tax
Harsh Gupta and I have co-authored a piece on why India should scrap the Securities Transaction Tax (STT): A transaction tax on securities barely hurts the speculator, but makes several trading strategies that provide liquidity and depth to the market…
The Potential Of India’s Offline Market
India is a unique economy in many respects. Though Indians conduct cutting-edge and mission-critical research for Fortune 500 corporations, few Indians actually think of building products that compete with them. While the print medium is dying in other parts of…
The Global Innovation Challenge
Rising unemployment and income disparity has shaken democracies across the Western world in the last year. Unemployment among young people in particular has been persistent and pervasive — the United States saw the highest ever youth unemployment in 2011, and…
Involve Investors Early In Business Plan Competitions
University and business school entrepreneurship events and conferences in India tend to be clustered in the winter season. Participating in business plan competitions and panel discussions on startups and ventures is par for the course for most venture capitalists around…
India Needs Infrastructure For World-Class Research
When Dr. Venkatraman Ramakrishnan was announced as one of the winners for the Nobel Prize in Chemistry last year, the nation erupted in celebration. The president and prime minister formally acknowledged and congratulated Dr. Ramakrishnan’s achievement. The media went into…
Aamir Khan and The Pursuit of Excellence
Film-making is very similar to entrepreneurship. The role of a film producer is analogous to that of a venture capitalist. Good producers, like smart venture capitalists, know that it’s not just about writing a check and it’s not just about…
Creating Social Capital In India
Venture capitalists add value to an enterprise at many levels and are not just financial investors. Good venture capitalists invest in smart entrepreneurs and big opportunities, and also bring to the table their network of relationships and connections. India is…