Need for broad basing entrepreneurship: Ansari

New Delhi, Nov 21 (UNI) Emphasising the need for broad basing entrepreneurship in India, Vice President Mohd Hamid Ansari yesterday said there are no dalit industrialists or business houses in the country till date.

''Those from other underprevileged, minority and marginalised communities have been confronted with what could be called the glass ceiling of entrepreneurship and capitalism,'' Vice President said in his address at the Ernst and Young's Entrepreneur of the Year Award programme here last evening.

He said in the West, one has heard of the tremendous incubation and entrepreneuring impact of affiliations to premier Indian technical and management institutes such as IITs and IIMs.

''Unless social capital is based on such impersonal affiliations, lack of access to it would continue to hinder what I consider an absolute necessity - of broad basing entrepreneurship in India.

Indian business and industry must ponder on this if the current economic dynamism and entrepreneurial enthusiasm is to remain sustainable,'' Mr Ansari said.

Talking about entrepreneurship in agriculture, Dr Ansari said this sector has huge potential and will have a multiplier pay back effect on the society.

''I look forward to the day when one of the 'Entrepreneur of the Year' awards would be dedicated to agriculture,'' Dr Ansari said.

It is through the prism of good governance that innovation and entrepreneurship are rewarded and recognised for their ability to generate employment and help in the percolation of the wealth created, he said.

''We are currently in a sweet spot where macro-economic conditions in India, global factors, the current stage in the evolution of our industry and corporate and national governance have converged and led to the unprecedented growth and success of entrepreneurship in India in the past decade,'' Dr Ansari said.

Never before in our history have so many entrepreneurs in India become as successful and demonstrated such an extent of wealth creation as in the past decade.

''We are told that the aggregate net worth of the four richest Indians, all entrepreneurs, stands at 180 billion dollars, the net worth of India's 40 richest stands at 351 billion dollars, more than double their net worth last year. For perspective, this amount is roughly over a third of our GDP at current prices,'' he added.

UNI