Sridhar Vembu, the founder of Zoho Corporation, claims that India requires a corporate mandate on R&D analogous to CSR in order to promote a culture of technical innovation and aid in the development of critically important technologies.
The winner of the Padma Shree award According to Vembu, the business would start research and development work on computer-aided design software to be created in India for use in engineering and other industries that the United States or other global players now dominate. And CEO of the nation’s first billion-dollar IT company said that India doesn’t have a culture of research and development. According to him, manufacturing facilities for global tech product companies such as Apple won’t bring “high-paying jobs” to the people of India.
In an interview with PTI, Vembu stated this need for a corporate mandate to invest one or two per cent on R&D. He compared this requirement to the current requirement that companies spend two per cent of their revenue on CSR (corporate social responsibility). This is an investment opportunity with significant upside.
Recently, he visited the city to offer a lecture on “Transforming the Indian Economy” that was held by the Indian Chamber of Commerce and the Swadeshi Research Institute.
Even though the government has broadened the range of CSR to include R&D, there is still no specific research mandate for corporations in the nation now.
When asked how India managed to get Apple investment in India, Vembu compared the country to Mexico, where there are manufacturing for American corporations but no value addition.
In addition, he emphasises the importance for India to understand what will serve as a model for the United States in the long run.
In addition, he stated that we require such factories. Still, we also need research and development to ‘own the technologies’ because we require high-paying employment to attract people to come to India. After then, the money will be distributed among the many sectors of the economy. The economy will only gain to a limited degree from constructing simple factories that lack intellectual characteristics.
Earlier, Union IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced that Apple’s iPhone will now be manufactured in India, adding that the company’s largest factory will be established in Hosur, located close to Bengaluru. A single factory will be home to around 60,000 employees.
Vembu stated that there are significant multiplier benefits from jobs in R&D, and he emphasised the need to establish a research culture. These are jobs that are necessary for this location. The design, creation, and production of goods for other countries should be India’s primary goal.
He established his product firm, which is now worth a billion dollars, solely on research conducted by Indians leveraging rural talent and resources.
According to Vembu, the business would start research and development work on computer-aided design software to be created in India for use in engineering and other industries now dominated by the United States or other global players.
