IBM VC Group Goes Global; India Economy, with 6 Percent GDP Growth, No. 3 in 2020

In 15 years, India will be the fastest growing economy in the world, and by expanding its GDP at a 6 percent per-annum rate, will be the world's third largest economy trailing the US and China, according to Deutsche Bank chief economist Norbert Walter.

Still, according to an article in India's Rediff.com, he said that to attain GDP growth of 7 percent to 8 percent annually, India needs to continually pursue aggressive reform.

In Hyderabad Saturday, R A Mashelkar, director general of India's Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, said the country is moving to establish two new research institutes -- in Pune and Kolkata -- modelled on the Indian Institute of Science.

In a media event after speaking to graduation ceremonies at the International Institute of Information Technology, Mashelkar said the country is seeking to create a $230 million National Science and Engineering Fund for basic research.
He also said that India needs to train more PhDs.

"The pharma industry leaders are collectively looking at employing hundreds of young Ph.Ds. In fact, they are complaining about the shortage of suitably skilled Ph.Ds in India," he said.

IBM this morning said that it has formed an advisory group of venture capital companies with an eye on creating a more formally structured way of targeting startup companies.

IBM will organize a group from Accel Partners; Darby Overseas Investments; Draper, Fisher and Jurvetson; Hummer Winblad; 3i; US Venture Partners; and Walden International, in forming a group the company said is conceived to add a global perspective to IBM's partnering ventures with startup companies. Claudia Fan Munce, the company's vice president of corporate strategy and managing director of IBM's Venture Capital Group, leads the group, which will meet four times annually.

The company pointed to emerging markets in Brazil, Russia, India and China and the open-source movement as drivers for this effort.

For IBM, venture investment is more of a sales opportunity, and a chance to seed its technology into an early-stage company rather than making a direct expenditure of funds.