The IndUS Entrepreneurs (TiE) president Kanwal Rekhi, who had presented the Government with recommendations to speed up growth in the sector, barely three weeks ago, was scathing in his criticism of Government policy. He said that it posed serious impediments to growth.

While Nasscom reports that venture capital inflows into the country had grown by over 100 per cent last year, Rekhi claims that this has been despite serious policy obstacles. ``Indian laws are hostile to venture capitalists. Instead of laying the red carpet for people who want to invest in Indian companies, months go by before you even hear from the Government on approvals and then you are put through thousands of approvals from the RBI. Then there are laws which say you can't repatriate dividends etc,'' he said. Rekhi pointed to the fact that venture capital funding was already fraught with risk given the 80 to 90 per cent failure rate. Under these conditions, ``the last thing you need under the circumstances are obstacles,'' he stressed.

Another serious drawback for the sector was the shoddy state of telecommunications, according to Rekhi. ``With this kind of third rate telecom infrastructure, poor service and terrible connections, how can we even dream of being an IT superpower?'' he asks. Referring to Infosys' phenomenal success at Nasdaq, Rekhi calculates that the company can acquire American companies three times its size by spending barely 5 per cent of its equity. ``But acquisitions of this nature are not permissible according to Indian Law. Why does some babu in Delhi decide how Infosys is to grow?'' thundered Rekhi.

``Why do these people ask for tax concessions? Who wants concessions anyway? They should be demanding that the roadblocks be removed,'' he added.