India has chip design talent, but lacks global sales skills: Endiya Partners' Sateesh Andra

India has the engineering talent to design chips that match the best in the world, but the country lacks the marketing and operations skills required to sell those products worldwide, Endiya Partners Managing Partner Sateesh Andra has said.

Engineers based in India have taped out chips that have shipped in billions for companies such as Qualcomm, Infineon, NXP, Texas Instruments and Renesas. Missing were the skills to write a product's specifications, position and market it, and work with distributors to reach customers abroad, he said.

"They (Indian semiconductor startups and firms) are, primarily, I would say, comparable to any global semiconductor startup... I think our engineering talent is absolutely as good," Andra said in an interview on the sidelines of Semicon India 2026.

The gap opens up once a chip has to be sold. "From a product company perspective, if you look at the intimate knowledge of the customer and then a thorough understanding of your competition, the ability to write the specifications of your product, position it, market it, sell it, and go work with distributors to be able to get it out there - I think these are skills that we don't have."

The opportunity lies in building large, fabless companies, he said, pointing to Nvidia and Broadcom.

"Why can't we build very successful, very large fabless chip companies that not only cater to local demand but also can go regional, can go global?" he said, pointing to India's significant share in global design resources and talent.

Indian companies in this space should also look beyond government policy support to grow, he said.

"You're a good entrepreneur; you can raise capital from anywhere in the world.

"Global investor awareness of India's deep tech sector has improved, helped by the pandemic, which pushed for local solutions, and by "every nation's need for tech sovereignty," Andra said.

But the ecosystem remains immature. "There's a lot of awareness, intent; it needs to translate into real action, and we need to see results. We're not there yet," he said.

Endiya Partners has floated three funds so far - a Rs 200-crore Fund I in 2016, Rs 500-crore Fund II in 2020, both including co-investment, and Rs 800-crore for Fund III in 2025, from which it is currently investing.