Nitin Desai talks about the Indian government’s initiative on how to create an eco-system for innovation and venture capital.

Mr. Desai is the chairperson of a committee on Technology, Innovation and Venture Capital instituted by the Government of India. The committee consists of Mr. Parag Saxena, Mr. Nandan Nilekani and others, and they are in the process of gathering information. A report of their findings on technology, innovation and venture capital in India will be submitted to the Government.

In this interview Mr. Desai talks about various investment opportunities in India. He highlights that most of the investment money in Indian start-ups is made during the late stage and not in the early stages. What is missing is the availability of the seed fund or angel round of investments for start-ups in India.

Besides IT, the growth opportunity for investment is in the pharmaceutical and bio-tech industry he points out.

Mr. Desai says that the Venture Capital scene in India is in early stages; Indians at institutional levels are not actively investing in start-ups; there is no good connect between VC funds and tech institutions and finally, Indian entrepreneurs are not open to mentoring. And, he explains why that is the case.

The research for this committee is provided by Dr.Rafiq Dossani of Stanford University in California.

Mr. Desai has a lot more to say on this subject, and you can listen to the podcast interview by downloading the file.

The interview was recorded in May, 2006 on the sidelines of the WeMedia Conference in London, where Mr. Desai and I were part of a panel on media in South Asia.

Mr. Desai was previously Under-Secretary-General for economic and social affairs at the UN. Prior to that he was Secretary and Chief Economic Adviser in India’s Ministry of Finance.

Currently Mr. Desai lives in New Delhi with his family.

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