Leaders in IT will continue to be leaders for quite some time: Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan

Edited excerpts:

What was the experience like chronicling a sector that you have been part of?

I am very grateful to all the people- from FC Kohli, S. Ramadorai, N Chandra, Azim Premji – everybody who has been instrumental in creating this industry. They all spent three to four hours with us, reminiscing about their stories, etc. And so, we got these stories from, in some sense, the horse's mouth or the leader's mouth, and that was what I intended this book to be.

The second is how far back it goes. The first instance that we record here is about Homi Bhabha returning from his visit to the UK and writing a note about his experience of computers in Cambridge actually and saying that India must invest in setting up a center at TIFR (Tata Institute of Fundamental Research). But unfortunately, we didn't take forward our venture into hardware. If we had, the story would have been very different because we were early on in this journey. This was way back in the late 1950s.

So, what do you think are perhaps the missed opportunities, two or three things that India could have done differently in the early years in manufacturing or on the education side? Something that could have given an even more vibrant global bigger industry.

To venture into something like hardware, you must spend a huge amount of money on building, creating a minimum viable product, setting up manufacturing, etc. Risk funding was not available. The Indian IT industry embarked on software services because it was one which required the least capital. Remember, all the IT services companies bootstrapped themselves. They didn't take any external capital till much later when they went for an IPO.

So, it is what it is, and it was left to the government to set up manufacturing facilities and try to embark on the hardware side through ECIL (Electronics Corporation of India Limited) and other endeavours.

I don't know whether we can go back and change things. I think we need to learn from this and look to the future. And I am very glad to say that today the government has a very strategic hardware manufacturing policy.

Not just PLI (production-linked incentive), they are also talking about Atmanirbhar. Talking about not being dependent on any other country as much as possible. And allowing manufacturing to happen in a big way. We are one of the largest manufacturers of mobile phones now. And I believe we will also start manufacturing other products, including hardware chips, etc.

Tell us about the role of the government, because clearly, this industry has managed to get the government on board, it has managed to work with different state governments to ensure that expansion happens, and capacity building happens at scale.

Where needed, the government supported us. Where it was not needed, they kept away. They knew what they need to do and what the industry needs to do.

The tax breaks helped because that allowed the industry to invest in building a solid foundation, building education, infrastructure, building large campuses, and investing in sales and marketing.

The government created the Software Technology Parks (STP), which served as a single-window clearance agency for all government clearances pertaining to the IT services industry.

So, when I meet startup founders today, I tell them, "Don't think about just your company. Think about your industry, right? You must create an industry. You have to work together to create interest."

What do you think were the big trigger points? Was it during Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's tenure because he was very big on telecom and IT, and of course, the liberalization of 1991, right, that kind of changed the context, it changed the aspirations of the IT industry in India, because before that, you would need licences, permits to get a computer, to get Forex from RBI.

So Rajiv Gandhi, Sam Pitroda setting up C-DOT (Centre For Development Of Telematics) and starting the telecom revolution was very, very important. That triggered BSNL (Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited) to set up their data communication links. STP created a competitive data communication link, and we would get data communication links from BSNL and STP, both of which were very competitive.

So, Rajiv Gandhi's focus on technology being very important for India's development, especially telecom, I think was very important.

Second, as you mentioned, the liberalization in 1991, which removed all requirements for licences, etc., A lot of the foreign exchange controls were removed, which was very important because it allowed us to travel easily, it allowed us to invest in sales and marketing outside the country. It allowed us to even bring foreign visitors to India, etc.

And later, we were ready when the growth triggers happened, which is the Y2k, the telecom revolution, the internet bubble, etc. So, we were able to take full advantage of these.

Why do you think traditional business houses/conglomerates, apart from maybe Tata, haven't been able to succeed in IT?

Tech Mahindra.

Okay, Tech Mahindra, they got a big leg up after the acquisition of Satyam. But we haven't seen many conglomerates really make a splash in the IT sector. Most of it is first-generation entrepreneurship, first-generation wealth that has gotten created. Why do you think that is?

Disruption typically comes from new businesses and startups. That's why startups are very important. Existing businesses, given their size, scale, etc., never really give the attention that is required to a startup within their own organization. It never gets the attention that is required, because it's too small for a strategic leader to be leading that.

Second, I strongly believe that the barriers of entry are very high because people from outside do not realize that it requires a lot of tools, techniques, technologies, and training your people with the rigour that's required to deliver high quality. At any point in time, a TCS, Infosys or Wipro would be running 20,000, 30,000 projects across the company and imagine 20,000, 30,000 projects to be delivered with the same quality, same customer satisfaction on delivery within budget.

That is not very easy to replicate. And that's the reason why I believe that the leaders in the industry will continue to be leaders for quite some time.

Tell us about your own early memories of building Infosys when it was a startup, because it is India's original startup story. Tell us about your fondest memories, and the most difficult moments during that period.

The first 10 years were years of struggle because we were trying to survive. It was hand-to-mouth. That month's invoice would be what pays the salary for the next month.

We were lucky that some of the customers were willing to pay us in advance. We would raise the invoice on the 1st and before the 15th, we would get paid. So that the next month's salaries could be paid.

And it's because of these early experiences that we've all stayed together, that we've all remained friends until now or even now. We met as colleagues while working at Patni Computers, but we became friends, and our families became friends with each other.

We have all shared apartments and cooked food together. All kinds of sharing, including office spaces. In Jaya nagar, we had only one private office room and whoever comes first gets the office that day.

This is like hot desking in the 1980s, right, something which people are talking about now.

Exactly. Hot desking of the CEO and senior leadership, right? Whoever comes first or whoever has customer meetings gets that office and the rest of us would kind of hang around outside because we didn't have space to sit. So, these are the experiences that made Infosys what it is today.

If I ask you what the IT story of India is going to be in the next two decades, what would your prediction be?

So, the services companies will continue to grow given their base today, even a low double-digit growth is a good growth rate to be appreciated. We will have product companies emerging out of India. I hope that some of them will be willing to run the marathon that is required.