Celebrating Indian Entrepreneurship Date:   Tuesday , May 02, 2006 India’s Sensex is going through an all-time-high. Estimates say that the country is currently the most expensive stock market in terms of P/E ratio across the globe. As if making hay while sun shines, our ‘secular government’ is now trying to move the two most controversial bills of the yesteryear. One, to reserve 50 percent of seats in Indian Institute of Technologies/Indian Institute of Managements for the Scheduled Castes/ Tribes and Other Backward Classes. And second, to push the age old work quotas already existing in government jobs to the young and blossoming private sectors. On the surface, these two are very opposing trends—although few Indian intelligentsia think it is good for a country where the ‘dalits’ have been mistreated since time immemorial. But if the government intends to reserve more than 50 percent of seats in its premier institutes, or even earmark jobs in the most burgeoning sectors of its economy, on the grounds of caste, background and birth rights, then sane investors should be running away from that country. After all we are living in a “flat” world where meritocracy is supposed to be the best way for an economy to lead. However, fortunately, investors-confidence in the country’s private sector, and in entrepreneurs who are churning out great growth rates suffices for all the negatives. Interestingly, it is this Indian entrepreneurs’ drive to succeed against all odds no matter which part of the “flat” world they are operating in is notable. If entrepreneurs in India have government policies and infrastructure as headwind, entrepreneurs in the U.S. are prejudiced in certain ways—VC funded firms remove Indians at much higher rates than entrepreneurs of any other race. Despite all the mounting odds, we are glad that Indians in the U.S. are organizing the world’s “biggest” entrepreneur conference. However, we still need to keep working on for having a level playing field in the U.S. We at siliconindia, as always, bring out the gutsy Indian entrepreneurs who make it in the U.S. and hold their “Indianess” as their core values. Today, we salute 3 of such U.S. based Indian entrepreneurs in this issues cover feature: “Indian Entrepreneurship 360.” We bring you the story of Navneet S. Chugh, a Los Angeles based attorney who has made it big in the country despite not belonging to the techie tribe—as the Indian creed in the U.S. is known for. We have also profiled serial entrepreneur Michel Susai, founder of NeoAccel who closely follows his heart and goes for what he sees is a promising segment. And also, a first time engineer turned entrepreneur, Satish Palvai the co-founder of Xactly Corp., has been featured in the magazine. All in all, we feel this isn’t the end. It’s the beginning of a global march by the Indian business class who will take India to the place it rightly deserves. Pradeep Shankar editor@siliconindia.com