Say yes to innovations and no to 'jugaad': India Inc honchos

MUMBAI: India 'desperately' needs big innovations to address largescale problems and make use of opportunities in the country and not just stick to the now-famous concept of 'jugaad', aid some of the biggest corporate honchos of the country said on Saturday.

They were speaking at a Google hangout at Mahindra & Mahindra's corporate office in southern Mumbai. Rajan Anandan, managing director of Google India, said many Indian companies "are living quarter-to-quarter and not thinking five years out, how to shape a new industry or how to go figure anew business or market".

"It really bothers me that we have become so smug about 'look, how good we are'," said Anand Mahindra, chairman of Mahindra & Mahindra. "The problem with 'jugaad' is that it's make-do. Ideally, frugality and frugal engineering should be more-for-less, not just make-do," he added.

"Jugaad means you use whatever little resources you have and make something happen. To that extent I think it's a great starting point. But if you become complacent and say this is where it is, it's not enough," said Chanda Kochhar, CEO of ICICI Bank, the country's biggest private sector bank by assets.