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The power of an ecosystem II

Those who wanted the service industry to create a Microsoft or an Adobe in India miss the point that it is an ecosystem that creates, not exhortations. Along the way that Indias services industry was floundering or stumbling and bumbling along, a company named Flipkart was formed.

It seemed innocuous enough - after it was an Amazon clone - started by selling books, went onto sell many other things. The market that was India was lucrative enough for Amazon itself to come onboard. Flipkart itself spawned a host of me-too brands. And it gobbled up Myntra.com - which remains a premier fashion destination online in India.

The Paypal mafia had a similar clone in India - the Flipkart mafia. Demonetization led to a surge in digital payments. GST led to more digital transactions. And an entire tech ecosystem emerged to meet the demands of new India. Slowly but surely, the tide turned. Engineers did not want services jobs anymore and instead wanted meatier tech jobs,  wanted to solve real problems and work on cutting edge of both tehnology and consumer needs. And, while we still dont have Indias Microsoft, we have Indias own tech ecosystem - an ecosystem that is trying out a whole bunch of things - including military start ups and moon launch start ups. (Yes we are nowhere close to China and we are altogether dependent on US and Chinese tech, but hopefully this is a bridge we will cross as well).

And in due course, we may even get an Indian Microsoft eh?

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