Software lobby Nasscom says India’s software products revolution will be powered by start-ups. India now boasts of a thriving domestic market where at least some large firms (especially in retail, finance and telecom) are willing to try out new products from untested companies. There is a growing availability of start-up founder material—typically people who have grown up in a technology-enabled culture and worked in a “regular” IT company. And, despite ups and downs, both angel and venture funding have found their way to start-ups here.
The caveat that the optimists at Nasscom haven’t included relates to product quality. Early products coming out of Indian start-ups will likely be simplistic at best and copies at worst. This will change as competition, currently the missing link, forces companies to come up with better products. Indian IT would then have truly arrived.