ThinkChange India with a great summary on the status of social entrepreneurship in India.

Hey there, Mr. Entrepreneur. Ms. Risk Taker. Mr. Mover and Shaker. You (and me) - with your hot-shot IT consultancy or Web 2.0 startup. Think you know what it’s like to scoff at the status quo? Take them risks? Push that bar?

Next time you start feeling like you’re cool, think on Narayana Murthy.

India is still a baby. A few years ago, you decided that you disagree with Mr. Nehru…communism won’t work for your country. So, you decide to follow the solid desi path: open an IT consultancy in India. Only catch: it’s 1981. The Internet? Right. Good luck finding a desktop computer within 50 miles of that run-down two bedroom apartment in the city.

“We were huddled together in a small room in Bombay,” says Murthy, “in the hope of creating a brighter future for ourselves, for the Indian society, and perhaps, we dreamed, even for the world.”

Idealistic for a tech guy. Remember, I mentioned that a few years earlier, he (like almost everyone at the time) believed in Nehru’s socialist vision for India.

“Remember one thing: All of us believed in central planning; all of us believed in socialism because we were all children of a different generation. We were all mesmerized by the charisma of Nehru. Nehru believed in central planning, Nehru believed in socialism. Nehru believed in the Soviet-influenced model of development. So it was not at all unusual for an idealistic man to be completely bowled over by these principles.”

After a lot of thinking, some life experience, and 24 hours in jail (for talking to a French girl on a train about a few of the ills of Communism), Murthy decided that global trade would be better for his country:

“Entrepreneurship, resulting in large-scale job creation, (is) the only viable mechanism for eradicating poverty in societies.” (note: he believes the European version of socialism works well.)

Call it outsourcing, or call it what it actually is…globalization, defined by Murthy:

“…sourcing capital from where it is cheapest, sourcing talent from where it is best available, producing where it is most cost effective and selling where the markets are without being constrained by national boundaries.”

(more…)

Manish over at IndiAdRant summarizes a fascinating breakfast conversation between Narayan Murthy (Infosys) & Azim Premji (Wipro). After clicking over to the full interview, I was astounded at the striking similarity between Premji & Don King.

Jokes aside, a great conversation. The best quote comes from Murthy (he didn’t look enough like Don King to include his picture in this post), discussing the Tata-Corus deal.

To me, the confidence shown by Ratan and his people is, indeed, a watershed event in the business history of this country. When somebody writes the business history of India in the 2000s and 2100s, this will be described as a turning point in the history of the mindset of the Indian entrepreneur. That’s what I’m excited about.

Manish’s Summary

Full Interview