Indian ecosystem is evolving ! Parents (and even more importantly in the Indian context, potential wives and husbands!) are beginning to consider “startups” as a good way to begin or further a career. Surely “start-up” in the new buzz word.
Here’s why now is the best time to start up in India:
Reason#1 – Supportive Government Policies
Our new Prime Minister Narendra Modi is branding India at international level with #MakeInIndia campaign. Policies to register company in India are now much more relaxed. I am amazed and thrilled how tedious process of filling 8 forms for company registration is now reduced to 1. Wow!
Reason #2 – Access to Finance
Previously, to get started in a business you either needed to self-fund or go to a bank for a traditional business loan. However, there are now so many different schemes and incentives, as well as crowd sourcing and independent investors that if you have a great idea – its possible to get funding quite easily and on reasonable terms.
Reason #3 – Everybody has Mobile Phone
Communicating to customer is now much easier. After China, India is the second largest user of mobile. According to Mobile Internet in India 2014, mobile internet users is expected to reach 213 million by June 2015. This represents a opportunity for start ups to reach millions of people just by mobile advertising.
Reason #4 – Start up wave is catching up
Ecommerce giant Flipkart, founded by Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, both in their early 30s, in 2007, is today valued at $12.5 billion (Rs 79,350 crore). Its rival, the five-year-old Snapdeal, is valued at $5 billion (Rs 31,740 crore). The little over four-year-old online taxi aggregator Ola Cabs, cofounded by Bhavish Aggarwal (29), is valued at over Rs 15,000 crore. Read more at:http://goo.gl/g0eikl
Startup have become coolest thing on college campus. Students at IITs and IIMs are declining high paying jobs and gearing up for their own venture.
Reason #5 – Access to mentorship
With start up culture evolving in India, various bootcamps and networking sessions are happening in India. yourstory.com organizes meetups and various events for start ups. Quora is the right place to find mentors and ask questions. IITs are incubating various startups and providing office space and guidance for low cost.