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'There is no energy so intense as entrepreneurship'

Suhas Patil, is the founder and chairman emeritus of Cirrus Logic, one of the first Indian ventures in America to make it big in the new knowledge-driven economy. It was way back in the early 1980s that Patil, a former professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, unleashed the Indian spirit on the American scene.

Then onwards, he has been in the forefront of the Indian-American attempt to rewrite the concept of entrepreneurship. Currently, he is bringing his new venture, Toofan, which will incubate new Indian ideas, to India.

He was in India last week in connection with US President Bill Clinton's visit when Josy Joseph met him for this interview:

Did you time your visit with President Clinton's tour of India? What role did you play in this visit?

I combined a business visit with the President's tour. I came a week earlier and have been very, very busy. Basically, I came to visit the subsidiary of a company I am involved with in the United States. I also attended a meeting of Time magazine in Mumbai. I was invited to join in Pune a conference on venture capital organized by the Maratha Chamber of Commerce.

It was a phenomenal meeting where fund managers, successful entrepreneurs and budding business minds presented their experiences.

I also visited my family before I came to Delhi to join the American delegation accompanying the President.

What role did you play in the visit?

I was representing the Indo-Americans.

You are up there in America, but have your roots here in India. So how do you view Clinton's visit? Is it a cosmetic trip, or a paradigm shift in the American approach towards India?

This trip, I believe, is the beginning of a very long and deep relationship between the two nations. Clinton has set in motion dynamics that will get these two nations very close economically first, and then as partners in the arena of politics too. There is no better natural partner for the United States than India.

So this is not a formal five-day thing that ended with Clinton's departure?

It should be viewed as beginning of something extremely significant -- not only at the national level, but globally too.

What shift have you noticed in the attitude of the American community towards Indians?

There is enormous progress Indo-Americans have made in the US. The first lot of Indians came to America almost a century ago. But there was a significant new immigration that started in the 1960s primarily comprising of those seeking higher education. I was part of this immigration.

I did try to come back and work here (in India), but they didn't want me. Now I think my coming back will happen when I want it to happen. You come back in various forms -- you can come back physically, you can come back mentally, you can come back to make a change. So what was considered a brain drain, I truly believe has become a brain trust.

You have not answered my question. How is the perception of Indians changing in American minds?

In the 60s and 70s we were regarded first with curiosity and then as smart engineers, scientists and doctors. Today, we are viewed as able entrepreneurs and business people who create wealth -- not only for themselves, but for the society at large. We also create jobs and have shown that we are model citizens. We hold family values that are now being adopted by mainstream America.

We are gradually becoming a part of the American scene. We have also started participating in the political process -- at the grassroots level, at the city level, at the state level and at the national level.

When did this process of integration of Indians with the American society began?

That started with liberalisation in 1991 and H1V-B visas going to America -- grandparents began visiting their children, friends of our children came to India... so many tiny elements came together. It is not just hi-tech where we excel, arts, films, even beauty contest - Indians are leading the way everywhere.

In India, is the atmosphere right for bullish entrepreneurship?

I am bullish about entrepreneurship taking off like a rocket in India. The time is ripe for people of India to embark on an economic freedom movement with the same fervour and the same intensity as we did on a different kind of freedom movement about 50 years ago. This movement must be led by entrepreneurs who create jobs and companies.

Creation of wealth is not a zero sum game in this new knowledge economy. If we have to lift the standards of living we need twice as much wealth as we have today...and we have to achieve this in 10 to 25 years' time. There is no energy so intense as entrepreneurship.

I do not see government creating wealth. I see government creating environment and infrastructure. The mechanism we have going in Silicon Valley can become India's model for progress.

What is the response of the Indian government?

I must give full marks to this government. We came here in 1998 to attend a seminar, not knowing what to expect. Some eight of us, successful entrepreneurs, just to tell our story in Delhi in cooperation with NASSCOM. That was the beginning of an engagement that led to another seminar at Stanford and that resulted in a commission being established to channelise our inputs.

We made our recommendations and to their credit, the Government of India, incorporated these in their programs I think this is a terribly small time frame to carry out corrections. This cannot happen if someone 10,000 miles away comes here and shares his thoughts. It happens, when people here are desirous of making a change. Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in December last year at the World Economic Forum said: "Let us create Silicon Valley India."

Isn't that rather ambitious?

The interesting thing is when entrepreneurs get inspired, and our aim is to inspire them, and when the success of other entrepreneurs in India -- Infosys, Satyam, Wipro -- sets an example, there is nothing that can stop them. You don't have to first change laws and create the environment. An entrepreneur will take whatever it takes and go ahead. You need to remove only obstacles. Make this country economically free, release it from the bondages of a controlled economy.

Isn't there too much hype surrounding the dot com bandwagon?

I call it fervour. I see this as the beginning of a broad entrepreneural dot com rally. Start-ups do not always succeed. It is basically learning how to deal with failures. Also, what is more important is to learn the techniques of success. Out of ten companies, one or two will succeed spectacularly. One or two may fail or actually shut down. Rest of them will not succeed enough to remain an independent entity. But that is alright. Mergers should not be viewed as failures. That is what is happening in America. AOL is an example, Exodus is an example... the energies of young start-ups are not lost.

What is going to be your personal contribution to this rally?

I have a passion for teaching...and I would like to see this (the revolution) to take off.

What exactly are your plans?

I have created a company, Toofan. I am in the middle of creating a business incubator around Toofan. I have an incubator in America, which is not just a building space, but a space where I am the guru. I am the teacher, and the young companies are the shishyas. I am joined by other professional and successful entrepreneurs, who take residence in there in order to participate with the start-ups. The objective is an environment where we can pass on our learnings.

Where is it going to be located?

In Mumbai near the Indian Institute of Technology. I already have 75 people. I have acquired a company in America which has a subsidiary in India. I am redirecting its energies to the incubator, and it will start off as soon as physical structures can be raised.

How much are you going to invest?

Whatever it takes. Honestly. You know the incubator is like a gurugraha, a place of learning based much more in the old traditions of learning in India. Companies get formed, they get direction, they get momentum and they move out. So it is not to provide them space forever, but to provide an environment in their formative years.

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