Connecting the Dots for future prospects

By- Dr. Manisha Kumari Deep

New Delhi (India), April 6: “You cannot connect the dots looking forward, “Steve Jobs said. “You can only connect them looking backward. This is true because everything has a past and you have to look backward to predict or connect the future. Today, I will discuss how future startup’s in India would look like, if we connect the dots. Success is not just about being a Unicorn and doing everything to be there and sometimes shortcut routes may make you land in the situation of many unsuccessful companies. Thus real success is about managing the health of your business, positively engaging your employees, keeping transparency in management, proper placement of policies and regulations, checking on the environment, meeting expectations of stakeholders and so much more. The success of a startup not just depends on a brilliant business plan but good policies from the government and a dedicated team. You hire someone thinking that this person will make your sales skyrocket. So you are planning your future here. More than 60% of new startup’s fail in their first decade of operation. In 2010 there were no Unicorns and in 2011 Inmobi became India’s first Unicorn.. According to investopedia.gov.in, as on 3rd October, 2023, there are 111 Unicorns with a total valuation of $349.67 billion.

The liberalization in startup funding and ease of regulations which includes tax exemption in the first three years has contributed towards starting lots of startups in India. But there is a difference in private valuation of a company and public market reality. For example, Zomato on day one of its listing closed at Rs. 125.85 which was a lot more over the IPO price. After two years it plunged down and reported a huge loss in FY23. But currently it is trading profitability and also showing growth. Although looking at past performances, people are skeptical about Zomato while some hold their hopes high as once IPO was launched and surpassed the estimated price. By connecting the dots investors can put money in Zomato expecting it to grow in the future. If we talk of Paytm then tables will turn. This giant company is in trouble. Shares have gone down and people are not willing to spend money on Paytm due to flags raised by RBI. So, because of Paytm’s past actions, its future looks questionable. Contrary to Paytm, India’s first Unicorn Inmobi is still rising due to its principles and values like privacy, first marketing and doubling AI investments. It is creating a future for itself where usually companies fall or close down.

Startup India was launched on 16th January, 2016, and since then there is no stopping. Startup India has rolled out many programs with the objective of supporting entrepreneurs making India a country of job makers instead of job seekers. Startup India is a flagship initiative of the government of India, to catalyse startup culture in India. Startup India has 19-Point Action Plan to support startup’s like:

1. Incubation Centres

2. IPR facility

3. Tax benefit and easier compliance; faster establishment and exit mechanism for companies.

4. Economic stimulus in the form of INR 10,000 crore of Funds managed by SIDBI for increasing funding opportunities and more.

Number of people who visited the Startup India portal is more than 1 crore since its inception. Post Feb 2020, the regulatory reforms have been initiated to help companies in doing business. Some of these initiatives were:

(i) Revamping the incorporation process

(ii) Tax benefits for issuances of ESOPs for startups

(iii) Extension of turnover criteria for startups under section 80-1AC of the Income Tax Act

(iv) External Commercial Borrowing (ECB) by startups

(v) Relaxation for Startups for opening a foreign currency account

(vi) Relaxation in conducting number of board meetings in a year

(vii) Relaxation in signing of annual return of a startup company

(viii) Patent fees of Educational Institutions reduced by 80%

India has emerged as the third largest startup ecosystem in the world after the US and China.

India has added 950 tech startups in 2023. There has been double the growth in the number of startups from around 7,000 in 2016 to over 14,000 in 2022. This growth is not just because of government support but factors like internet literacy and use; access to funding, and acceptance of AI technology and its penetration among the young tech savvy population. Between 2012-2015, the number of startups grew to 5,000 from around 800. 2016 was a turning point as funding crossed $10 billion. Startups like Flipcart and OYO got multi-billion dollar valuations. In 2023, the number of startup’s touched 90,000 and surprisingly Tier2 and Tier3 cities started to emerge as startup hubs.  It is being projected that India will have 100 Unicorns in the coming year as compared to 44 Unicorns in 2021. Shift will be to SaaS and B2B startups. Thus we can conclude that the Indian Startups ecosystem has shown immense growth. Fintech, Edutech, Agritech and Foodtech companies will be on rise. So, let’s look forward to this prosperous future of startups.

About the Author:

Dr. Manisha Kumari Deep, started her career doing research in an uncharted domain and got her doctoral thesis published as a book title ‘Organic IT Infrastructure Planning and Implementation’. She is a Writer, Researcher, Faculty, Certified Independent Director and Entrepreneur. She has more than 60 publications. Some of her popular novels are “The Trial of Hope”, “2 Moms” and “An Alien Land”. Her book “Social Media Marketing: Author’s Quandary Decoded” received lot of attention from readers. Her recent article on “Dr. Manisha Kumari Deep Shares About Censoring Emotions and its Importance” gathered around 63 Million views and is one of the top searches in Emotional Censoring.

The book title “15 Points to Conquer your Emotions” is a practical guide to help readers in controlling, understanding and conquering their emotions. Step by step help book will hand hold the readers and enable them in practically implementing it in their life.

You can reach the Author on Twitter @Manisha_K_Deep

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