Bangalore: Co-founder of Sun Microsystems and ace venture capitalist Vinod Khosla said today (Feb 22, 2004) India can be a clear leader in many technology areas, particularly bio-technology, nano materials and energy technologies, unlike Information Technology where it started as a "follower".

"If we start serious research effort in many of the areas, we can start as a leader. In some sense, in IT we started as a follower," Khosla, who is said to be among the top two VCs in the world, told reporters.

Khosla, who is general partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, said the Indian Government has done a "fabulous job" in starting and encouraging many of the R&D institutions in the country which has led to development of "lot of talent" and New Delhi can expand them further.

With good policies and regulatory framework to encourage and promote many of the areas, India can emerge as a leader in those fields, he said. "It's a huge opportunity for the country".