News: NRI IT women mix biz with pleasure at home
(TNN 06/04/2006) New Delhi - Pantaloon may have had to carve out a unique designation, keeping in mind the research background of former Goldman Sachs economist Roopa Purushothaman, who’s relocating to Mumbai from Manhattan.
But for the Indian IT girls at Silicon Valley, the passage to India is logical, smooth and top of the mind. Consider the big names from the 90s — Radha R Basu, Lata Krishnan, Punita Pandey and Anu Shukla. They’re all Indian, all techies and they all made their mark as entrepreneurs in the Silicon Valley. But today another thing that they have in common is India, which is central to their business plans.
“Our Indian subsidiary employs close to 70 full-time personnel. SupportSoft sees an immense potential in bustling markets like India, especially with the increasing use of broadband and triple-play services in home networking. We do not see India as just another offshore site for cost reduction. In addition to India being a critical market for our sales and marketing, and business development initiatives, our Indian subsidiary owns worldwide product lines and P&L. In fact, SupportSoft India is a very strategic operation for our company,” says Radha R Basu, chairman & CEO, SupportSoft, a global and publicly-listed software company.
It may be recalled that in the mid-1980s, Basu had relocated to India to set up Hewlett-Packard’s operations here.
For Punita Pandey, chairman & CEO of Silicon Valley-based start-up netCustomer, the operations at Noida are an integral part of her business.
“India has been a key part of netCustomer from the very beginning. We established a 24x7 centre way back in 1999 when the concept of round-the-clock operations out of India was not very common. Over the years, we have evolved delivery capabilities. Today, our India team provides advanced application support and services to worldwide users of ERP applications. One of the key factors fuelling our high-quality and low-cost services engine is our innovative remote delivery capability leveraging a 24x7 India centre,” she says.
RubiconSoft may not have set up Indian operations yet, but founder & CEO Anu Shukla is convinced that it needs to be an integral part of plans moving forward.
“India is an important market for RubiconSoft’s Internet-based consumer service and an important resource for our development and operational needs. Our plans are to address the market and leverage the resources afforded to us in the IT arena in approximately 12 months. We have reviewed the alternatives available, met with companies in India and also tried offshoring on a project basis,” she says.
The other high-profile woman entrepreneur of Silicon Valley, Lata Krishnan, has left behind a career with salary and stock options worth $3.9m.
But her current job as president of the high-profile NGO American India Foundation (AIF) keeps India very much on her radar. “Last October, we raised an incredible $1m at the AIF gala in Silicon Valley. I am very excited about drawing hi-tech companies like AMD and Cisco to the event,” she said. Ms Krishnan, who also holds the position of CFO at her husband Ajay Shah’s investment company, Shah Capital, doesn’t rule out entrepreneurial forays involving India in future.
For now, her primary responsibilities at AIF include project selection, managing the India board of advisors, developing NRI outreach programmes and building partnerships with US and India-based non-profits.
On a personal front, Basu enjoys trekking in India and is involved in an AIF project to create livelihood centres for rural entrepreneurs, starting with the Sunderbans region. Pandey spends up to three months at a stretch in Noida, and has recently joined the international board of directors of Association for Services Management International (AFSMI) to help start an Indian chapter.
Shukla, who often feels tempted to relocate to India, travels every year to meet family in New Delhi and Mumbai. Now she’s also visiting Pune and Bangalore often on business.
But for the Indian IT girls at Silicon Valley, the passage to India is logical, smooth and top of the mind. Consider the big names from the 90s — Radha R Basu, Lata Krishnan, Punita Pandey and Anu Shukla. They’re all Indian, all techies and they all made their mark as entrepreneurs in the Silicon Valley. But today another thing that they have in common is India, which is central to their business plans.
“Our Indian subsidiary employs close to 70 full-time personnel. SupportSoft sees an immense potential in bustling markets like India, especially with the increasing use of broadband and triple-play services in home networking. We do not see India as just another offshore site for cost reduction. In addition to India being a critical market for our sales and marketing, and business development initiatives, our Indian subsidiary owns worldwide product lines and P&L. In fact, SupportSoft India is a very strategic operation for our company,” says Radha R Basu, chairman & CEO, SupportSoft, a global and publicly-listed software company.
It may be recalled that in the mid-1980s, Basu had relocated to India to set up Hewlett-Packard’s operations here.
For Punita Pandey, chairman & CEO of Silicon Valley-based start-up netCustomer, the operations at Noida are an integral part of her business.
“India has been a key part of netCustomer from the very beginning. We established a 24x7 centre way back in 1999 when the concept of round-the-clock operations out of India was not very common. Over the years, we have evolved delivery capabilities. Today, our India team provides advanced application support and services to worldwide users of ERP applications. One of the key factors fuelling our high-quality and low-cost services engine is our innovative remote delivery capability leveraging a 24x7 India centre,” she says.
RubiconSoft may not have set up Indian operations yet, but founder & CEO Anu Shukla is convinced that it needs to be an integral part of plans moving forward.
“India is an important market for RubiconSoft’s Internet-based consumer service and an important resource for our development and operational needs. Our plans are to address the market and leverage the resources afforded to us in the IT arena in approximately 12 months. We have reviewed the alternatives available, met with companies in India and also tried offshoring on a project basis,” she says.
The other high-profile woman entrepreneur of Silicon Valley, Lata Krishnan, has left behind a career with salary and stock options worth $3.9m.
But her current job as president of the high-profile NGO American India Foundation (AIF) keeps India very much on her radar. “Last October, we raised an incredible $1m at the AIF gala in Silicon Valley. I am very excited about drawing hi-tech companies like AMD and Cisco to the event,” she said. Ms Krishnan, who also holds the position of CFO at her husband Ajay Shah’s investment company, Shah Capital, doesn’t rule out entrepreneurial forays involving India in future.
For now, her primary responsibilities at AIF include project selection, managing the India board of advisors, developing NRI outreach programmes and building partnerships with US and India-based non-profits.
On a personal front, Basu enjoys trekking in India and is involved in an AIF project to create livelihood centres for rural entrepreneurs, starting with the Sunderbans region. Pandey spends up to three months at a stretch in Noida, and has recently joined the international board of directors of Association for Services Management International (AFSMI) to help start an Indian chapter.
Shukla, who often feels tempted to relocate to India, travels every year to meet family in New Delhi and Mumbai. Now she’s also visiting Pune and Bangalore often on business.
posted by InCar Group Press Room at 17:22
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