Indian Government Should Encourage Small, Medium-Sized Businesses: Dell CEO

Dell Chairman and CEO Michael Dell on Monday pitched for creation of an enabling environment for small- and mid-sized companies to start business, saying 70-90 percent of new jobs are being created by these entities.

"If you look at where the jobs come from, India has a large number of people; the question should be asked where are the jobs going to come from for all these young people? The answer is that 70-90 percent of the new jobs will be created by small and emerging and mid-sized companies, not big giant global companies," Dell said.

Speaking at a media roundtable in Bengaluru, he said: "It is important to recognise this because sometimes, only the big companies have voice in policy discussions, and they are not actually the ones who create jobs at the end of the day."

"So, governments need to be very thoughtful, and I think the Indian government is working on how to make it easy for these businesses to be created and how do we loosen up things," he added.

Dell, who is also the UN Foundation's global advocate for entrepreneurship, said, "You have to have a large number of new companies to go and create those jobs."

Pointing to the conflict area, he said: "Whether it is an urban centre or some particular region in the world, if there are conflicts and problems, there will be a lot of unemployed young people."

He added: "This should really spot the connection between importance of creating these jobs and also having stability in the world."

Hailing Indian government initiatives like Digital India, Make in India, Smart Cities, Dell said: "... I think they are relatively new initiatives, so it will be hard to say what has happened since they have started. They make very good sense to us and we are really pleased."

Amit Midha, President, Dell Asia Pacific & Japan, spoke at length on e-governance, smart cities in other societies that have improved efficiency, quality and the standard of living, and "we think these are all right things to do".

On startups in India, Dell said there are some fantastic startups that are globally competitive. He was sure that the successful startups in India won't necessarily copy the formula in the US or with other entrepreneurs, and rather they will pave their own way.

Defending the Dell's decision to go private and progress it has made thereafter, Dell said, "Privatisation has ignited our teams as we have followed through our words around investing in our future, investing in our teams, growing our share, making decisions faster."

Dell shareholders had in September 2013 approved about $25 billion (roughly Rs. 1,66,541 crores) offer made by its founder Michael Dell and Silver Lake Partners to take the US-based computer maker private.