India, Aug. 27 -- There has been a lot of talk around innovation or perceived lack of it, in Indian enterprises in general and the IT services companies in particular. These discussions have been accentuated by the rapid strides that AI has taken which have resulted in declining valuations for IT majors in India giving rise to widespread speculation on the future of these companies.

Much has been written about that but let us take a step back and attempt to understand "innovation" and the Indian enterprise. We have also attempted to take a nuanced view on the systemic, cultural and sociological issues that impact innovation.

The Global Innovation Index (GII) prepared by WIPO is an oft-cited barometer for ranking countries for their 'inn...