Photos: Various Sources
Mr. H.K. Mittal is the Advisor and Head of the National Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (NSTEDB) and is the overall in-charge of the National programmes and schemes on Innovation, Entrepreneurship development and Employment generation under the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India. In more than two decades of his service, he has developed many new programmes and schemes, continuously on the promotion of entrepreneurs and skill development and also put in place various policy level interventions for innovation and incubation. He has been actively involved in establishing seed funds at the incubator level, providing fiscal concessions for incubation through the Ministry of Finance, mainstreaming incubators through many other departments of the Government and also provisioning of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds to business incubation. He has been a regular at international developmental institutions like the World Bank, UN system, EU etc. to share his experiences on entrepreneurship, innovation at various international forums. Mr. Mittal also held the post of Secretary, Technology Development Board (TDB), a unique organization under the governmental structure, where he helped to launch some meaningful initiatives. Mr. Mittal was also the National Project Director of the UNDP – DST project on New Tech Livelihood SKILLS, which got three extensions because of the praiseworthy results it delivered. As a Project sponsor, he also oversees several initiatives such as the Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Development Project – An area development project through micro-enterprise development at 40 underdeveloped locations in India and the skill development through Science & Technology (ST). After relentlessly trying to get an interview out of the man who works round the clock, FWD Business finally got him through to sit and share his opinions on Indian entrepreneurship.
There is no lack for talent in our country. Don’t you think the ecosystem and infrastructure for young entrepreneurs in this country are still far behind other countries? If so how can we resolve this problem?
Yes. We have a lot of potential youngsters. But the infrastructure needs to build up for them to carry their ideas forward. There are lots of changes that are happening. A lot of departments, ministries, state government, that are coming forward. And they are building the infrastructure. Like you have the examples of Technopark, Infopark, Startup Village. Regular initiatives are taken in other places also.
You have been working with the government for the entrepreneurial development of this country for more than two decades. How has the times changed and what does the future look like?
I started in the year 1984. At that point of time, everything was regulated. There was a regression. The market wasn’t really open. There were very few items that people could manufacture. There were hardly any. It was difficult to promote general industries. The technology entrepreneurship itself was very difficult. In 1991, the economy opened up. People started to feel the impact of it by 1994-1995. Then Y2K happened and a lot of Indians went abroad. They set up their own enterprises. When they came back the scenario started changing post 2001-2002. Today you have very vibrant and innovative enterprises. The number of educational institutes have gone up. Technolog- oriented entrepreneurship has also taken off. Facilities like Vivante, Startup Village, Technopark, Infopark and all have established incubators. Currently, there are close to 98 incubators in the country– each of them supporting 15-20 enterprises. So a lot of changes has happened over the years. The private sector came up on board then with the will that innovative small enterprises should come up.
Who are the people who have inspired you through all these years?
First inspiration was Narayana Murthy (Chairman Emeritus Infosys), Sabeer Bhatia (Entrepreneur), V Balakrishnan( Director and former CFO of Tech Behemoth Infosys), Azim Premji( Chairman, Wipro) and a host of others with each college having their own success stories. The local success stories that people hear has inspired them the most to venture into entrepreneurship. And then Bangalore became the innovation hub where IT, Biotech etc. kind of enterprises got established. That helps people to pursue their dream.
You attend about 5-6 international summits a year because of your expertise on your particular field. Where does our entrepreneurial ecosystem stand on a global forefront?
On a global forefront, we are as good as anybody else. The only thing is that in India, we lack the needed capital. On other developed countries, the capital which is given at early stage, in case of failure is writen off. That kind of rich capital is not available. The second thing is we also need patient capital. There is a lot of patience in the finance required. We need to wait for at least 5-6 years before we expect a return. And finally we need smart capital. That’s a capital which comes with guidance and mentorship. There they handle these people and make sure they get into the next step. TDB provides a low capital. It does some subsidies and things like that.
Would you say that TDB (Technology Development Board) saw its best years after you became the Secretary? Where do you think it can improve?
I wouldn’t want to comment on that for now as I quit the position last March 2014.
You have worked in places like the island of Andaman and Nicobar; Lakshadweep etc. Entrepreneurship hardly exists in such places. What impact were you able to make while you were there?
These areas are remote areas where entrepreneurship in terms of the opportunities that exists there are very less. So what you can have is either an enterprise which caters to the local needs or the available resources. Since the number of people living there is less, the market demand is also low. Small enterprises can come up only if you have visitors that provide regular business. Large scale businesses can only come up based on the resources available; like Andaman and Nicobar has lots of forests. Wood can be used from there. Cane and bamboo can be exported from there. Similarly with Lakshadweep, if it is fishing and tourism, opportunities exist. But very limited technology focused enterprise. So we really had a lot of challenges finding the right opportunities for them.
You said Unless 1,000 or more incubators are fully functional across the country, India won’t see high-octane success stories. How can we achieve such a number according to you?
The government is working on increasing the number. We are trying to bring out more and more incubators. State governments have also come up with their own incubators. There are 3-4 departments of the government of India which are of science and technology, in the lead. Then MSME( Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises), department of biotechnology, department of electronics and information technology– all of us are setting up incubators, providing seed capitals to the incubators. So this is happening all across.
TDB was notorious for its long delays in taking decisions on projects. How did you bring a change to that?
It was with the support of the board, the chairman and with the help of the employees of the organization. It was all a collective effort.
What does this country need more? Professional engineers or entrepreneurs?
Obviously my answer will be the entrepreneur. If you can become an engineer and choose to be an entrepreneur, better.
Rather than being an entrepreneur yourself, after IIM you chose to be a teacher for entrepreneurs. Why is that?
I wanted to be an entrepreneur but couldn’t do that at that point of time as I thought I wasn’t ready and needed more knowledge. So I joined the Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDI). So for almost 35 years I have been only giving back the knowledge I acquired.
Do you still teach?
Yes, I do. Last week I was in Bangladesh teaching them how to set up incubation centers.
Where do you see Indian entrepreneurship in future?
Future is great. A Lot of things are in the pipeline. These are exciting times. This is the best time to be an entrepreneur. If these facilities were there when I started off then I would also choose to be an entrepreneur