'Education triggers entrepreneurial inclinations'

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Sam Pitroda—erstwhile Satyanarayan Gangaram Pitroda—chairman of the National Knowledge Commission (NKC), is a man of many parts; inventor, policymaker, preacher, entrepreneur. The man, who introduced microprocessors in telephone switches and begat hand-held computing with his electronic diary, holds over 75 worldwide patents. Living in Chicago, he lectures around the world on management, governance and communications. He owns and runs several companies in the US and Europe. Pitroda is best known in India for transforming the country’s telecom & IT infrastructure. The founding chairman of the Telecom Commission, Pitroda also oversaw national technology missions related to drinking water, literacy, immunisation, oil seeds & dairy. Releasing the NKC report on Entrepreneurship in India in New Delhi, Pitroda spoke to FE’s C Jayanthi on a range of issues. Excerpts:

The NKC study on Entrepreneurship in India mentions skill mapping, expanding & modernising the ‘public sector skill development infrastructure’, and enlarging the coverage of skills from 150 to 1,000 trades. How exactly is the government going to achieve that?

Skill development is a high-priority area. The National Skill Development Mission (NSDM) has been given an outlay of Rs 31,200 crore under the XI Plan. A Skill Development Corporation, with the active participation of the private sector, is being created by the government to create a pool of skilled people, catering to sectors with high growth and employment potential. Synergies between the public and private sectors are imperative here.

The NKC study mentions that as many as 53% entrepreneurs, with whom you spoke, consider that education is a trigger to evoke entrepreneurial inclinations. That is interesting—wouldn’t you say that the greatest entrepreneurs in India have been uneducated, and have done well?

The NKC study finds education to be a trigger to evoke entrepreneurial inclinations. This is because majority of the entrepreneurs interviewed were educated. In fact, 98% of the entrepreneurs interviewed had at least an undergraduate degree. About 50% of these entrepreneurs felt that education had helped them to become successful entrepreneurs. In the knowledge era, the new generation of entrepreneurs who will create wealth on an unprecedented scale will be those who are educated. They will also constantly innovate for prosperity. Education is critical, no two ways about it.

The NKC study mentions that to facilitate easy access to bank credit, information asymmetries at various levels have to be removed. How can this be done?