Contribution of IITians
I have always believed that IIT graduates are considered to be a cut above the rest so much so that when Arjun singh proposed Reservations for OBC in IIT admissions- institutes of higher learning, people objected for compromising on meritocracy. Barring those silicon valley entreprenuers like Vinod Dham- co inventor of Pentium chips others took different lines of activity rather than engineering- what was taught at IIT. India bulls is a shining example of such an irrelevant entreprenurial adventure for it is plain brokerage activity . IITians were forming venture capital funds, Microfinance outfits, angel investing etc with the primary motive of making money. A school drop out Dhirubhai created more wealth than all this people put together.
The free market economy was craving for more investment in to retail business. the retail business in india is done by sundry outfits through the various kirana stores. Shoppers shop, Pantaloon were some of the early attempts to take retail big. The example often cited was scalability which brings down prices for the consumer. Wal- Mart is the universal model of an ideal retail outfit which maximises value for money for the consumer. Now Birlas are at it through their More retail outlets, Reliance through Reliance fresh outlets, Goenkas through food world chain of stores, The future group etc wereall attempts to do retailing in a big way providing value for money. One such attempt was by an ex IIT graduate with Management qualification who had illustrious company in Binakchandani of Naukri.com. Mr.Subramanian of Subiksha. This man had humble begining as PA to erstwhile Enfield India chairman Visvanathan. He started up his Subiksha stores modestly and grew big with more and more openings and exclusive shops for consumer goods. Venture capital firms were picking up his equity at exhorbitant prices which were incredible for the margins of his business were always low. To day he has not paid salaries to his staff for more than 6-7 months now. ICICI ventures one his biggest investor wants to have his accounts audited by an independent outsider. One business magazine commented that Subramanian diverted his cash to buy properties.
India bulls is now a full fledged NBFC. It gives retail loans, consumer loans, business loans at usurious rates of interest which are beyond RBI control. MFIs also charge usurious rates of interests to its borrowers albeit a shade lesser than local money lenders.
We have had scientists of international repute such as Dr.Bhabha, Raja Ramanna, Dr.Iyengar, Kasturi Rangan, Dr.,Abdul Kalam who are all not IIT graduates
It is high time to demystify the aura around IIT graduates for their contribution to society pales in to insignificance when compared with other Engineering and Technical graduates who have done India proud.
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