Entrepreneurship in India
Enterpreneurship is a critical element of a growth economy, and India is poised to unlock a Silicon Valley like entrepreneurial boom through the next 10 years. The beginnings are already in place, steps have been taken in the right direction.
I have written extensively on the topic of entrepreneurship and venture capital in India, and thought it would be a good time to summarize the various pieces.
Last summer, I started digging into the topic, and came up with my first nugget: Too Much Money, Too Few Deals, highlighting the excess capital chasing Indian startups, and the lack of fundable deals.
Around the same time, I also wrote my popular Concept Arbitrage series, which led up to the widely read Venture Capital in India article. In these, I explored what kinds of deals have been getting funded, and why. Consumer Internet turned out to be a big trend from last year, for India, while non-tech sectors like retail and real estate are also big money-making opportunities. In fact, I highlighted the retail trend in my piece about Oak Investment Partners’ India Retail Fund.
This year, as we have explored the issue of seed capital for entrepreneurship in India, the situation has got more dire, with more money going into India. This has led me to the conclusion that India Needs More Incubator Funds. I continued an exploration of the incubator fund requirements, while entrepreneur Sujai Karampuri wrote some passionate pieces on why we need technology product companies in India, and why we don’t have any.
Finally, I suggested some areas for technology entrepreneurs in India to explore as segments where new companies can be formed: SaaS, Enterprise 3.0 and web 3.0.
In summary, I am optimistic about India’s entrepeneurial potential, and look forward to tracing its developments over the coming months and years.
I live in the US. But, I have been to India recently. I was at a electronics store, the prices for all the tech products are really high. It really annoyed me. For example at IBM Laptop was about 1 Lakh, I am not sure about the conversion.
A laptop in US costs about 1000-1500$ or even cheaper. Thats a lot less.
I really don’t know why stuff is so expensive, is it because they think the people are clueless? There will be a backlash against high prices..
Please Reply
There’s plenty of cheap computers available in India, as far as I know. But I don’t track IBM laptop prices, so cannot comment.
[…] writes that India is poised to see an entrepreneurship boom in the next 10 years. She is right! There are […]
Really? The lowend is cheap I know that. I am sure the high end machines are a lot expensive then the computers in US.
Thanks for the reply.
I don’t know may be because I don’t live there. But, I lived there from when I was 1- 14yrs old. I am 17 now.
I like reading your blog thanks.
Just came across your blog thanks to IndianEconomy.org - liked it! Look forward to reading it regularly
The second generation of successful/ semi successful small and medium businesses that got started 20 years before has a lot of potential. They know the ropes of the trade. And they possibly also have international exposure to broaden the vision.
Somehow this segment is too conservative.
The first gen entrepreneurs have too many distractions. Incubators like the ones proposed by you are good starting point.
Keep up the good work!
[…] various recent discussions about Entrepreneurship in India, I have heard a recurring theme, that Indian culture does not encourage, nor support […]
[…] have obviously come a long way. Last summer, I did a body of research on the Indian entrepreneurship scene, as I watched huge amounts of capital finding its way to India. Through that work, I also came to […]
[…] have obviously come a long way. Last summer, I did a body of research on the Indian entrepreneurship scene, as I watched huge amounts of capital finding its way to India. Through that work, I also came to […]
[…] have obviously come a long way. Last summer, I did a body of research on the Indian entrepreneurship scene, as I watched huge amounts of capital finding its way to India. Through that work, I also came to […]
entrepreneurship has been increased in a country like india as it was as compared to the early years of independence. i am impressed much by visiting this page.
I am a student from china ,now study on India’s entrepreneurship education ,and you paper is very helpful .
if you have time ,please contact me,thank you
I AM INTERESTED IN ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND I HAVE AN INTENSION TO START BUSINESS ON HOME-BASED FREELANCE WRITING AND E-TUTORING.CAN YOU PLEASE HELP ME OUT IN THIS REGARD?
hi Sramana
A great post.. India is sure to go through a sea-change with the entrepreneurial activities taking place in India. It will be a hub for Angel Investors and Seed funding soon.. Many organisations are working to promote entrepreneurship in India. One such organisation is PITCHINDIA (http://www.pitchindia.com)
This site might be of help to you as well as it provideds immense resources for Investors and Entrepreneurs.
Waiting to hear more from u!!!!
I have heard a lot about entrepreneurial activities taking place in India. A great step is taken by lot of some seed fund companies,VC, angel investment etc to give a kick start to all such activities. Firms like PITCHINDA (www.pitchindia.com) is providing angel investment to the Indian entrepreneurs
I was wondering if there are any institues in India which does research on “Entrepreneurship in Indian IT industry”?
enterpreneurship in india is a death wish..can u comment on this
Now why on earth would you say that?
India is full of entrepreneurs right now, and many have done very well. In IT / ITES alone, there are 3,000 companies. Would that have been possible without entrepreneurs?
India can be a good base of entrepreneurs
provided SIDBI, Nabard and IDBI join together and form a joint financial institute tpo provide financial assistance direct through District Industries Centres , DRDAs then it can beat the production better then China
India has so much obvious growth potential and human talent, yet persistent challlenges. There has been a lot of capital looking for good deals, but I think more management talent is required in India (also in China by the way)… BTW, I would be happy to be in touch with the Chinese person studying in India.
After looking at the growing need, a few friends of mine and I have recently started a foundation to focus on the next generation of transnational entrepreneurship and innovation (see http://www.ifest.info) to link mentors and young people in India with their peers in the US, China, Japan, etc. We are planning a workshop/bootcamp for early career professionals and graduating students in India early next year, in an alliance with the UC Davis Center for Entrepreneurship and other US partners.
Other programs are in the works (International Innovation Camps, high level policy dialogue, etc.), and we at iFEST hope the time is right for building more international cooperation to support the rising generation of innovation and enterpreneurship worldwide.