Indian Economy and Startups

Vitul has 25+ years of global experience in P&L Growth & Business Transformation through Process, People, Experience and Technology Excellence in over 20 countries across Africa, Middle East and India. His experience spans across various industries with greater exposure to Business Process Management/Outsourcing, Banking (Mobile, Retail and Consumer Finance), Telecom sectors and e-commerce sectors. Professionally he has been at leadership positions in American Express, Citibank, GE, Airtel Africa and ISON Xperiences.

Vitul Kwatra is sharing his views about Indian Economy and Startups.

“With Realization of one’s own potential and self-confidence in one’s ability, one can build a better world” – Dalai Lama

India in its current state of economy is a true reflection of the above statement. India has realised its potential of being able to generate and meet that demand domestically. India recorded a Current Account Surplus of .9% of GDP in 2020-21 fiscal year. The “Make in India” Initiative has led to Capacity Utilisation in Manufacturing Sector at 66.6% in Q3’21. Gross Value Added at constant 2010 US$ has risen from US$1.555Tr in 2010 to US$2.678Tr in 2019. FDI in 2019 stands at US$50.61Bn which is 1.76% of GDP. Defence exports have increased from US$262Mn in 2014-15 to US$772Mn in 2020-21. Other initiatives of “Asset monetization package” announcing a push of the Public Private Partnerships across the infrastructure sectors (mainly Roads, Railways, Power, Oil and Gas Pipelines and Telecom), Infrastructure boost (Ports, Airports, Railways and Roads) is helping inclusive growth across the Tier2/3 towns leading to India’s growth faster than any other Emerging Market in the World. Control on Malpractices and Strong Governance across levels has also been one of the pillars for the Investors’ confidence in India. By launching initiatives such as “Supply Chain Resilience Initiative (SCRI)” India is leading the way in becoming a critical pillar in the Global Supply Chain posing at an attractive alternative destination for global brands. Global brands are getting under pressure from Indian companies through the “Atmanirbhar” initiative launched which enables the local manufactures support the India growth.

Adding up the above, Today, India is at the cusp of becoming an Economy which is envied by others. World is watching our success in opening the UN Security Council session, leading the COVID vaccination program, Stock Markets performing better, Stable external relationships, Political and economic stability delivering ease of Doing business and implementation of Governance. Alongside this growth, India’s landscape is changing. Corporates are getting challenged through the Start-ups in India which has become an attractive hub for Start-ups.

Talking about Start-ups, the growth in this industry (as per me it should be given an Industry Status now) is well planned and has been ignited by the innovation and persistent approach to fill in the demand which has been existing there. Start-ups in e-commerce, hospitality, Fintech and Edutech have seen some great success in terms of investments and valuations. All the big start-ups are in the phase of meeting the domestic demand and have now started reaching outside world to increase acceptance and prove that the model is replicable and economies will play its role from a reduction in unit price perspective. Traction in the launch of the start-ups across industries has been remarkable in India there have been some good Initiatives by the Government like “Startup India”to give boost to this sector.

However these initiatives still need to be a full integrated approach with Infrastructure, Tax benefits, incentives for global start-ups to partner with Indian start-ups, platform to take the Indian Start-ups to global markets for adoption. With the rich history and culture of India along with the still prevalent supply side of the traditional art and tradition, Culturetech is where more Start-ups need to be seen, may be a public private partnership will be more interesting in this space. At a larger level, Asset light models with technological leverage will see a much larger interest from the big equity funds due to its ease of scaling and limited baggage. Dovetailing of Start-ups into Bigger Global Corporates is another outcome what the market is looking more from the Indian Market.

India has crossed both the milestones of – Realization of one’s own potential and self-confidence in one’s ability. The ship is being navigated well by our leaders but need more continuity and support from each one of us to make (again) INDIA the Crown Jewel in tomorrow’s better world.