‘India will remain a top investment destination despite the pandemic’

India remains an attractive destination for talent, innovation, and markets, despite businesses taking a temporary break because of the coronavirus outbreak, said Kris Gopalakrishnan, co-founder, Infosys Ltd, and chairman, Axilor Ventures.

“Before the covid crisis started we had 36 or 37 unique unicorns in India, so we were actually a magnet for attracting investments. I just saw news that there are investors looking for opportunities. Google is looking at Vodafone, Microsoft is also looking at Jio. So, this is enforcing the story about India being an attractive destination. I believe that we will have a large number of unicorns. We will have significant investments coming into India to take advantage of the opportunity that India provides,” Gopalakrishnan said during a discussion with Sudhir Sethi, founder and chairman of venture capital firm Chiratae Ventures (formerly IDG Ventures India).

Gopalakrishnan was confident that startups responded faster to covid-related solutions than established companies because they had less bureaucracy. He reiterated that in the short term, the economy is taking a hit, but in the medium-to-long term, none of the things that were positive about India have changed.

“The talent that we have is, I believe, second to none, all the way from white collar work to blue collar work, from things such as IT services to advanced manufacturing or healthcare. Our healthcare system till now has actually demonstrated that it is able to step up to the challenges despite the poor healthcare infrastructure,” Gopalakrishnan said.

“Second, I strongly believe that in the future we will use multiple exponential technologies to change industries in what is called the fourth industrial revolution. India is probably the best placed to leverage these technologies for maximum benefits,” he said.

“However, for that businesses need to pivot, or repurpose their solutions now and reach out to their consumers during this pandemic, to stay relevant and look at the new opportunities that are being created during this crisis so that they can emerge stronger,” he said.

The Infosys co-founder also spoke about the disparity between the digitally-connected and the ones who are not. “The digital divide is stark,” Gopalakrishnan said.