Startup India: What It Means For The Youth
In contemporary times words like StartUp, Entrepreneurship, Seeding have become a popular topic of discussion among youths. The credit for this has to be attributed to StartUp India. StartUp India has been fundamental for this positive spur of change. This landmark initiative has enabled the youth to nurture their innovation and fulfill their dreams of building a startup.
India’s population is among the youngest in an ageing world. India’s working-age population has numerically outstripped its non-working age population. This working-age population consists of highly motivated youths with diverse aspirations. With diverse aspirations of a large section of youths there is a need to impart quality education and train them for future opportunities. For youth also the dream of being an entrepreneur comes with aspirations of doing quality courses par with universal excellence. The Government of India exactly provides that, as the StartUp India platform provides for seventy nine courses ranging from Financial Analyst, Digital Transformation, Data Analyst, Understanding Design Thinking etc. These courses provide free universal access to millions of aspiring youth to access quality resources to enhance their thinking paradigm. This is an excellent and exemplary global model of imparting education and shaping entrepreneurs of the future.
Further with initiatives like ‘Make in India’ a new sense of confidence is instilled among the youth to pursue their dream of entrepreneurship. StartUp India provides with varied support ranging from financial support, income tax support, registration support, tender support and networking support. These benefits help in the most crucial stage of a StartUp that is the execution of an Idea and making it marketable. The action plan of StartUp India is first, simplification and hand holding, second, funding support and third, incentives.
Due to these fruitful steps, schemes and initiatives of StartUp India, it has been able to create and nurture an ecosystem which is conducive for entrepreneurship. It has enabled thousands of youths to be employed under various entrepreneurs through new channels of job employment. Thus, StartUp Indian has contributed in the creation of assets for the nation’s development as well as reiterating Government of India’s commitment to make India the hub of innovation, design and Startups.
The Government of India also provides recognition and appreciation to these Startups through National Startup Awards. These awards reward startups that are dynamic, innovative and positively disrupt the market. The measure of these awards is not only financial gains of the company, but also social good that the Startup contributed for the holistic betterment of a particular sector or society as a whole.
Today India is not just an oriental country of the past as the West saw it, today due to the initiatives and robustness of the current government, India has a total 81 Unicorn as of now, with a total valuation of $274 billion. Also 90 founders among 500 U.S Unicorns were Indian born. The world is transforming with ideas and innovation of entrepreneurship. It will not be wrong to say that Indians are and will play a pivotal role in the global landscape of StartUps.
2. Since time immemorial, India has been a land of diversity, favored with an assortment of various topographies, ethnographies & demographics. This South Asian country has also been blessed with legendary minds starting from Aryabhata to Chanakya, Swami Vivekananda to Rabindranath Tagore, Subhash Chandra Bose to Mahatma Gandhi the list being exhaustive. These self-made geniuses sensed an issue in the society, constantly worked hard using their exceptional wit and sharp mind and were successful in developing a solution for its betterment. Born amongst us, started from scratch, their strong belief system and high determination made them legends. In the entrepreneurial context, the same trend of starting from a humble background with a will to work out the problems of the society has resulted in the creation of industrial tycoons such as Dhirubai Ambani, J.R.D. Tata, N. Murthy, Azim Premji, Shiv Nadar, L.N. Mittal, G.D. Birla, Dilip Shanghvi, A Godrej etc.
Even today, when we hear the name of Ritesh Agarwal (founder of OYO), Vijay Shekhar Sharma (founder of Paytm), Byju Raveendran (founder of Byjus) representing India in Global Economic Forums, there is a sense of pride in the heart of every Indian. Many still dream about being the next name in this list but due to various risks, uncertainties and complexities involved, they often take a back seat. Rather than being an employment provider, they end up as an employment seeker thereby burdening the unemployment graph. The entrepreneurial potential of this particular sect of population, if tapped in the right direction, would not only result in their economical empowerment but at the same time will play an active role in mitigating the unemployment rate of the country.
Focusing on this notion, on 15th August 2015, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, during his Independence Day speech, introduced a new vision for the Indian economy. The vision involved making India self-reliant by guiding and motivating its citizens to think, innovate, ideate and convert them into game changing ventures. Working towards the vision highlighted by the PM, the Government of India, on 16th January 2016, coined ‘Startup India’ with a mission of lending a hand to the entrepreneurial spirit of the citizens thus building a strong startup ecosystem. This program was believed to contribute not just towards the country’s sustainable economic growth but also create large scale multidimensional employment opportunities. Contributing towards this vision for five years has resulted in an era of ‘Renaissance’ of innovation and entrepreneurship for the country.
As per official reports, India’s Startup Ecosystem, with over 61,000 recognized startups, spread across 55 sectors and 635 districts is the 3rd largest startup ecosystem in the world. In addition to it, India has been given the acronym of being the World’s Fastest Growing Startup Ecosystem with a total of 82 unicorns. To celebrate and further encourage this growth, PM Modi designated startups as the “backbone” of New India and declared January 16th as National Startups Day.
For one of the youngest populous country in the world, Startup India serves as the platter of courses, resources, programs, networks, schemes and all those necessary guidance and incentives required to unleash their entrepreneurial dreams. It gives them the opportunity to explore their talent and skill set and experiment their innovative ideas into working ventures thus being a job creator in local, national as well as international platforms. The more the youth of this nation seize this opportunity, the more will be the reach of the scheme (sectors and districts) resulting in more job creation and ultimately more national empowerment. If this pace continues, the day is not far when India, in its 100th year of Independence (Aazadi ka Amrit Mahotsav), would turn out to be an Economic Superpower with active engagement of its Aatmanirbhar citizens.
3. “If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door” – Milton Berle
Indian youth is impatient, positively. Impatient to turn their dreams into ideas and ideas into reality. Gone are the days when parents would force their students to pursue conventional studies and limit their aspirations to unimaginative standard jobs. Ever since the advent of Startup India in 2015; it has emerged as the leading changemaker not just in terms of opportunities but a comprehensive revolution in people’s thinking. Start Up India was launched under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi as India understood the importance of creating entrepreneurs. In an emerging market and young society like India, the government should encourage the youth to take up entrepreneurship as a career option. Furthermore, the State should guide in commercialization of such plans by creating a safe space for start-ups. Start Up India fulfilled all the criteria and many more.
Start-ups give a boost to the job generation in host countries. Detractors would claim that such jobs aren’t stable. Lest we forget Alibaba, Microsoft, Google etc. started from small cubicles i.e. humble beginnings. The best part about job spurt is the diversity. Start-ups tend to provide employment to young as well as experienced professionals to gain valuable, trending and hands-on work experience. Start-ups should aim to learn from Generation – X; activate Generation – Y and inspire Generation – Z.
Indian culture has respected and stimulated innovation since time immemorial. Upcoming Start-ups would bring more products and services to the table. By opting for start-ups, the youth would be aptly commercializing science, technology, trade etc. India is no longer looking towards metro cities to gear up its growth. Start-ups are evenly spread across Tier 1, 2 and 3 cities. This is not only helpful economically, but will also eradicate gender disparity and regional inequality. Local businesses, especially those run by women, tribals and marginalized communities have been the direct beneficiaries of Start-Ups which model their operations on delivery & distribution.
The government of the day has helped entrepreneurship at an unprecedented scale. The most important contribution has been to free entrepreneurship from the unnecessary details by bureaucracy. From funds of tens of thousands of crores to easing application for patents, India has acknowledged the problems faced by entrepreneurs and is actively looking towards solving them. Numbers tell the tale of Start-up India’s success. In 2014; 70,000 trademarks were registered in India. In 2020; more than 2.5 lakh trademarks were registered. In 2015; India ranked at 81 in the World Innovation Index. Now it stands at 46. India, as the Prime Minister says, is in a “Learning Mode.” India has grown from merely 500 start-ups in 2016 to a humongous 60,000 in 2021.
But what is different with the Start-Up growth in India? Here in India, the government does not wait for start-ups to become unicorns before extending a helping hand. India nurtures the start-ups, values every idea and ensures that dreams do not go waste due to unwarranted reasons. India, unlike other countries, has refused to grow at the cost of environmental welfare. Urban planning is happening rapidly keeping in mind India’s commitments at the COP 26 summit. P3 movement i.e. Pro Planet People is an increasing reality given the growing coordination between different ministries to achieve the singular goal of Ek Bharat, Shreshtha Bharat.
4. “We all have entrepreneur inside us, a platform is what we need to bring the entrepreneur out”
Under the visionary leadership of our Hon’ble PM Narendra Modi, his brainchild, Start-up India was brought into existence.
Start-up India acts as a one stop platform for the entrepreneurs by providing a start-up ecosystem by the avenues of strategic partnership/collaboration.
Start-up India facilitates the entrepreneurs in various ways namely, stakeholder management where Investors manage the company board and leadership to facilitate smooth operations of the start-up. In addition, their functional experience and domain knowledge of working and investing with start-ups imparts vision and direction to the company. It also provides fundraising opportunities where Investors are best guides for the start-up to raise subsequent rounds of funding based on stage, maturity, sector focus etc. and aid in networking and connection for the founders to pitch their business to other investors. Start-up India sources high-quality and best-fit human capital is critical for start-ups, especially when it comes to recruiting senior executives to manage and drive business goals. VCs, with their extensive network can help bridge the talent gap by recruiting the right set of people at the right time. It also assists VCs with marketing strategy for your product/service. VCs have their eyes and ears open to merger and acquisition opportunities in the local entrepreneurial ecosystem to enable greater value addition to the business through inorganic growth, as a part of their mergers & acquisitions. It undertakes organizational restructuring for young start-up when matures to an established company, VCs help with the right organizational structuring and introduce processes to increase capital efficiency, lower costs, and scale efficiently.
It is often said in Hindi, “Jaisa Raja, Vaisi Praja”, it resonates with the leadership that Startup India has received from Mr. Narendra Modi, he had been an entrepreneur himself.
The youth have a pivotal role and an exceptional opportunity in the name of “Start-up India”.
The YOU in Youth is what entrepreneurship has. The passion to do something, to create something, the passion for seeking a change, to bring a change is what Start-up India provides to the youth.
For Youth, Start-up India is an “Opportunity” … an opportunity to make something, to build something, to create something, to bring a change.
For Youth, Start-up India is a “Platform” … which acts as an avenue to take an initiative and to pursue their entrepreneurship journey.
For Youth, Start-up India is a “Challenge” … a challenge that helps the entrepreneurs to bring the best out of themselves and ultimately solve a problem.
For Youth, Start-up India is a “Learning & Growth Hub” … Start-up India by providing strategic support of various industry veterans and VCs, creates a professional learning environment to the entrepreneurs.
For Youth, Start-up India is an “Aid” … there are so many entrepreneurs who at their initial phase, lacks in the basic support, be it financial or manpower, start-up India helps the entrepreneurs fulfil all of these.
And, most importantly, Start-up India set under Hon’ble Narendra Modi Sir acts as an “Example” … an example of innovation, an example of a quintessential ecosystem, an example of entrepreneurial pursuit.
This is what Start-up India means to the YOUth!
“In the pursuit of entrepreneurship, thy Start-up India is for thyself”.
5. The journey start when we take admission in the school and ends finally grabbing a job after college. Right from beginning we brought up with a mind set that we have to do something for earning and most preferably a government job as considered as secure and safe. But the young generation new that they have to break this thinking and have to show that it’s not the kind of job but rather the capabilities that matter and our Honorable Prime Minister came as lighting conductor for us, shown the path in the form of many initiative taken by Government to boost the start up in India. To name a few, SAMRIDH , ASPIRE, ATAL innovation mission, MUDRA bank, START UP India initiative, this not only broke the glass of old ideology but also started creating new bench mark for the upcoming generation.
START UP INDIA initiative started in 2016 by Honorable Prime Minister with the objective of supporting the entrepreneur and robust startup ecosystem. The most important features of START UP India that it was a successful initiative towards changing the ideology of people, creating an India of Job creator rather than job Seeker. This thought itself boosted the moral of the youth because it created a confidence among them that if the Prime Minister of a country is showing a faith among youth than it’s the responsibility of the youth to stand and show that the faith was absolutely correct. If we go through the statistical data than the number of start-ups in India had grown to over 60,000 from less than 500 just five years ago, across 55 Industrial sector. In 2021, India granted 28,000 patents compared to 4,000 in 2013-14, while 2.5 lakh trademarks were registered in 2020-21 compared to 70,000 in 2013-14. In July 2021, the department for promotion of industry and internal trade (DPIIT) had recognised 52,732 Indian start-ups.
Even in COVID scenario when many people lose their job, these start up remain as one of their hope and Government do played its part even in that case by promoting VOCAL FOR LOCAL, this provided the push so required by the youth, the moral boost to take up any job that they are capable to perform as they have this mind setup that Start-up Initiative is their with them to hold the hands. I would like to share a real life success story of start up India Initiative – In the year 2015, Kush Verma marked the beginning of Authindia, a digital platform for artisans and the handicraft Industry, later joined by Rajkamal and Saurabh Sharma who assisted in examining issues related to the drop shipping model of e-commerce that the local craftsmen are going through.
With time, the company caught the attention of local artisans as well as craftsmen, and over 200 of them registered on the website to sell their products across 20+categories. However, in COVID it got a set back but thanks to PM “Vocal for Local” initiative that in April 2020, they decided to relaunch their digital platform to create a stage where the talent of Indian artists and their traditional art form was in the show. Authindia is now a digital platform with a supportive community of 75,000+ people on social media. Every month they get more than 5 million impressions across social media platform.
This is only a single example but like wise lakhs of people especially the youngster are beneficiary of Start up India Intiative, as in the words of Prime Minister , “keep your dreams local, make them global. Remember this mantralet’s Innovate for India, innovate from India.”
6. A Case Study – Freshpatlo
India is one of the world’s newest start-up nations, with a slew of technology and manufacturing firms undergoing rapid development. Today, India has 82 unicorns, signifying that the golden age of entrepreneurship is only beginning. It’s incredible how these firms are growing simply on domestic demand while simultaneously expanding their reach into international markets. The pace with which Indian youth are launching start-ups is a testament to their ability and willingness.
India now possesses 62,047 officially recognized start-ups, making it the third-largest tech startup hub globally. Apart from it, India’s economy, demography and government’s active support provides a wide scope for establishing a thriving startup environment. These startups are widely acknowledged to be key engines of development and employment generation. Startups are significantly producing effective solutions through innovation and scalable technology, acting as vehicles for socioeconomic growth and playing an important role in transforming India.
“We have a million problems, but at the same time we have over a billion minds.” – PM Narendra Modi.
There’s an essential, intangible something in start-ups—an energy, a soul. It is felt by the company’s founders. Early employees and customers feel the same way, which motivates the youth to devote their time, money, and energy while also cultivating a sense of profound connection and common goal. Enthusiasm is strong, and start-ups stay adaptable and inventive, propelling development, as long as this mentality endures. What set apart successful firms was the creativity and autonomy employees showed. Such is the story of the startup, FreshpPatlo.
Fresh Patlo is online store launched in August 2020, offering a good quality of fruits, dry fruits, exotic vegetable and organic spices delivered right at the doorstep, throughout the North Goa. It was founded by Amey Parsekar and Rahul Kamat, both Goa Institute of Management graduates. For a long time, they had envisioned creating a website dedicated to fruits and exotic vegetables, which would inevitably focus on logistics and distribution. The founders Amey and Rahul says, “Freshpatlo aims at providing a doorstep delivery of all necessary household items. Especially fruits, veggies and spices. Our eventual plan is to aggregate all the farm produce in Goa, so that people get organic and fresh produce delivered with super convenience and the agricultural community also benefits. We are focused on building a robust and proven logistics process which will help us to achieve the required efficacy. Support from people, our regular customer as well as the feedback will help us go the long way.”
Nikhil Patil, Operation Executive Freshpatlo says, “There were a few stumbling blocks along the way, but we managed to keep the operations running well. These lockdowns had an impact on the business, and we are presently operating at a deficit. Nonetheless, we will continue to strive for customer satisfaction.” The founders have a message for young aspiring entrepreneurs that “It will be effective to approach to the pinnacle if one can plan modest victories and accomplish them.”
Every great firm began as a startup, an idea that paved the way for the rest of the world to follow. Today, startup has become a worldwide phenomenon, and this pandemic has provided a means for every Indian youth to step beyond the boundaries with the promise of accomplishing a vision, being independent, and making a difference. The Indian government has played a critical role in fostering youth and establishing India as the World’s Tech Garage.
7. Before moving forward I would like to make you aware of the statistics of startup and entrepreneurship for women as according to the National Sample Survey, only 14% of the businesses in India are run by women entrepreneurs. About 58% of the female entrepreneurs were in the age range of 20-30 when they started out. Nearly 73% of them report a revenue of approximately Rs 10 lakhs in a financial year. Almost 57% of these women started out solo, i.e., without any other member. About 35% of the women had a co-founder. Roughly 71% of the Indian female entrepreneurs employ five people or less.
If we talk about women entrepreneurship the first name that clicks in everyone mind I hope is of Falguni Nayar, founder of beauty startup Nykaa, became India’s wealthiest self-made female billionaire. Nykaa’s IPO (Initial Public Offerings) ,and as shares of the firm surged to a whopping 89 per cent, Nayar, who owns half of the company, is now worth $6.5 billion. Nykaa’s IPO made a boom which is Online Makeup products platform. The Investment Bankers’ Step Towards Entrepreneurship Given A Fame Called Nykaa. Nykaa Sells More Than 35,000 Products From 650 Brands In A Day Internationally. At the listing ceremony, Nayar said, “To everyone across India who ever had a dream, especially women with a dream, I hope the Nykaa journey—an Indian born, Indian-owned and Indian-managed dream come true—can inspire each of you to be the Nykaa of your lives.”
Either it’s a beauty product or sustainable living startup women are not backhand Chandni Khandelwal who is just 26 years old from Odisha launched her startup Ecoloop last year to provide handmade and eco-friendly alternatives to plastic using bamboo, palm leaves, sabai grass and more. coloop currently makes gift packaging using natural materials like sabai grass, palm leaves, paper mache, bamboo, and more. The startup makes around 20 types of products including baskets, trays, and boxes. “We are designing an entire gifting experience in a sustainable way. We are also exploring materials like rice straws to replace the styrofoam boards used in packaging. We are using bamboo and leaves to make boxes for baked goods like cakes and cookies,” says Chandni.
Tulja Sukhdayalsing Sharma a 34 year old, aka Rani Tulja — a mechanical engineer, started Tulja Tooling with a loan of Rs 5 lakh. She speaks of what it’s like in a man’s world of machine tooling. Tulja Sukhdayalsing Sharma, better known as Rani Tulja to her family, has weathered many a storm to become a successful self-made entrepreneur. A victim of domestic abuse and a single mother to a seven-year-old son, there have been instances in Rani’s life where she contemplated suicide. The founder of Tulja Tooling, a machine tooling business, Rani deals with the manufacturing of components like fixtures, gauges, moulds and even various cutting equipment and patterns. Having started the business with an investment of Rs 5 lakh, the company in Financial Year (FY) 2019-2020 made Rs 24 lakh.
I am a farmer’s daughter and the desire to do something connected to food and land was always something that played on my mind,” says Sucheta Bhandare (35), founder of Earth Poorna, a company that came into existence to provide wholesome and nutritious snacking options.
At 64, a Homemade Natural Soap Venture Is a Success With 500 Bars Sold per Month by Suchita Ullas, an erstwhile PR professional based in Bengaluru, took to soap making after her retirement and now runs a successful venture out of her home called Suchi’s Handmade Skincare Products.
From the above it is clear that Government efforts for developing startup ecosystem is not only good for youth but for the people of all age now women are not just limited to services but they are stepping out for entrepreneurship as well thus reducing gender gap and making us more proud.
[These are 7 different blogs collated as a single blog written by our MyGov Saathis, Aditya Shrey, Anoushka Chatterji, Shresth Tiwari , Shreyas Shewale, Shrutee Bepari, Shubham Kashyap and Tanu Sonpali respectively.]
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