When a transistor becomes a transformer

With limited resources and opportunities, he could amplify India’s potential and computing mettle through every organisation he went to – whether it was a government-scion or an emerging IT powerhouse or a startup or India’s own Silicon Valley think-tank or a non-profit venture. He continues to transform ideas, people and is always manifesting what they are capable of. He continues to achieve and make a mark. Dr. Sridhar Mitta in conversation with Dataquest editor Sunil Rajguru. Edited excerpts from a video interview…

It’s not hard to understand why Dr. Mitta was fascinated by transistors at such an early age, in an uncanny way. Amplifying things was always his calling. The essence and the switch that he always pressed forward no matter where he went. Here’s his story.

Dr. Mitta is an industry archetype and an icon in India’s IT landscape, with over 50 years of work in pioneering technology, fostering innovation, and promoting entrepreneurship. Here are a few glimpses of what he has done in various avatars. At Electronics Corporation of India Ltd. (ECIL), he led critical projects for defense and space applications, marking the foundation of his illustrious career. As Wipro’s CTO, he transformed its R&D division into a global profit center, introducing the “Lab on Hire” model for multinationals. He also played a pivotal role in establishing Wipro as India’s most valuable company during his tenure. With e4e Inc., he went on to enable Indian entrepreneurs to access Silicon Valley’s infrastructure, fostering innovation and cross-border collaboration. With EnThink Inc., the same man built a semiconductor IP design and licensing startup in Silicon Valley, catering to the global market. Also, the same brain pioneered global delivery of outsourced product development services for leading tech giants like Intel, Cisco, and Sun. He also served as President of TiE Bangalore and a trustee of TiE Global, promoting entrepreneurship globally. Fuelled by the desire to make an impact beyond his radius, he founded NextWealth, an IT company that integrates human expertise with digital tech to deliver data insights. Here, he created over 4,000 jobs across six delivery centers in small towns, empowering women and promoting social upliftment. Here’s a quick circuit diagram of all the nodes and wires that created this light that never ceases to illuminate the industry.

From school to foreign campuses, from electrons to transistors

Dr. Mitta began his journey from a small town in Andhra Pradesh. His middle-class family roots had set an initial path for medical studies. But his class teacher encouraged him to become an engineer given his strength in mathematics. He was reading a magazine Electronic Age which his brother subscribed to, when a line flew across the pages and got etched in his mind. Something to the effect of: Better things for better life through electronics. He became curious about this field. When he joined an engineering course, he was disappointed to find there was no stream of electronics. He took the option to migrate to another location and started learning the subject. He also requested his professor to teach transistors—and that was not under the scope of the syllabus. By this time, his family asked him to join the family business. Dr. Mitta remained adamant on doing something in the electronics domain. He went to IIT-Kharagpur to learn more about transistors. In those days computers only meant hardware. The closest possible area of software was called programming that was taught in the mathematics department. He applied to the University of Washington for hardware but did not get financial aid. He selected another university and registered for an MS degree. Here, he was influenced by professors to pursue PhD. His lesson playing with technology vs. developing it—these are two different ball games.

Back to Motherboard

He came back to India, got some offers, and leaned towards a government department that was designing computers. When Dr. Mitta joined, the leap was happening towards a third-generation computer. At Electronics Corporation of India Ltd. (ECIL), he then led critical projects underlining computing’s role in defense and space applications with his work in total computer integration. It was an interesting phase to both learn and contribute to critical projects. While ECIL was happy working on mini-computers, Intel was already coming up with something more powerful. Dr. Mitta stressed on looking beyond mini-computers but the organization was content with mini-computers. He moved on to join a pioneer called Wipro when it was just being spawned. When the offer was being made, he emphasized working from Hyderabad and on flexibility to choose his team. To get a private sector license entailed a lot of criteria in those days. One of them was to choose from options of underdeveloped areas for setting up operations. “We chose Mysore for manufacturing and Bangalore for R&D and marketing. Bangalore was not a choice because of weather but because of Government norms.”

What makes a Bellwether?

The journey began, he recruited talent from IIT-Madras etc. and started working on the design of computers. There were a lot of restrictions on what to make and what could be imported. That time, personal computers were productivity tools in the US while in India, we were on a different architecture and phase. The disadvantage was not having good software. The only OS available was from Microsoft. We wanted to get an OS from which to design hardware that worked with it. We licensed one OS. We went to the Department of Electronics for a license for that system. In those days, it was tough to convince bureaucrats but worked around all our challenges and got the system. Our product became instant access. Wipro gained a good name. Multi-layer PCB imports and other issues were some more challenges on the way which the company navigated. “We were also a strong name based on solid ethical practices.” The team moved from old to new architecture that allowed more performance without too many changes on devices. Wipro also announced some early pathbreakers that did not lag US counterparts. This path entailed many interactions with Intel, fortifying a good rapport. “In IITs we became the first preference for best engineering talent. All that spurred us to think of IT services. Something different from body-shopping. Our idea was different. We worked on testing software for an Intel product. We had a lot of factors to iron out to get into this services space – like talent, protection of IP, regulatory changes (The Copyright Act), infrastructure (STPI as a concept blossomed), power generation, etc.” The team turned these challenges into industry inflection points.

“R&D, which was a cost-centre, became a profit-centre. We also started CPUs, compilers, controllers and then moved to communication protocols. We were also the first ones to come up with the concept of near-development centres – replicating the R&D muscle of the US customer. We also got into ISO 9000 and CMM for software for the first time. We grew at 100 per cent a year, customers were happy (cost efficiency) and employees were happy (chance to work on the latest technologies). We then started thinking of IP and products. But without competing with our customers.” It meant a new set of strengths and set-up. This pushed Dr. Mitta towards EnThink Inc., where he built a semiconductor IP design and licensing startup in Silicon Valley, catering to the global market. “I realised that IP business model is not scalable. It will not become a billion-dollar company. I also needed more money.”

“I also recall a now multi-disciplinary project happening in Stanford University. I was attending the presentation—which talked about how Silicon Valley was about creating an ecosystem and why it could not be replicated elsewhere. It struck me then that for any entrepreneur to succeed, one has to go to Silicon Valley. But at Wipro, we were designing systems from India – that meant we understood products, systems etc. I got involved with some industry legends as they built the TiE force – joining hands with some stalwarts.”

The small-town calls again

While he was catapulting entrepreneurs through these ecosystems, he was already thinking of contributing more to society. As his life moved forward, he veered towards social impact areas—like providing employment. That’s where NextWealth was born, an IT company that integrates human expertise with digital tech to deliver data insights. It created over 4,000 jobs across six delivery centers in small towns, empowering women and promoting social upliftment. “I was inspired by CK Prahlad’s argument of going to ‘next practice’ instead of ‘best practice’ (because that was a practice that worked in the past).” This led him to provide employment to people with limited opportunities—like women and small-town graduates. We needed money but not from companies because of the possibility of dilution of purpose. We started to identify entrepreneurs in small towns, who could set a non-profit company that would take care of employment and infrastructure. The idea grew well. We understood the requirements of businesses in small towns vis a vis those of big-city businesses. Today, most of our work is AI-related. “The challenge of AI is around explainability and also on replicability and deterministic vs. probabilistic tangents. We provide human-in-the-loop elements. We are profitable. Without taking any money from investors.”

Dr. Mitta continues to make an impact with TiE and other endeavours. As he looks forward to Indian industry’s upcoming trajectories, he says, “We should be cognizant of our limitations as well as opportunities. Initially, any leap needs money, resources and infrastructure. We should not be too worried about becoming a ‘product nation’—products need services and the circle continues. Growing too fast has its own implications. AI is going to affect everyone – the implications of what we don’t know are serious. Overall, AI is a positive trend for a country like India.”

Session report by Pratima H. (Catch the complete interview at the Dataquest YouTube channel.)

sunilr@cybermedia.co.in