The start-up industry is bubbling with excitement about the government's start-up action plan due for launch on Saturday.
The start-up industry is bubbling with excitement about the government's start-up action plan due for launch on Saturday.
A start-up agenda meet will see attendance by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Secretary DIPP Amitabh Kant, Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Nirmala Sitharaman. They will interact with the stakeholders of the start-up industry to get inputs for the plan. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to interact with them in the concluding session and launch the action plan.
A day before the launch, here's what AskmeBazaar, Coupondunia, Holachef and UrbanLadder expect from Modi's plan.
AskmeBazaar
“India already has great momentum in start-ups; we are now the fifth largest in terms of funding and have more than five new tech companies starting every day," Kiran Murthi, CEO, AskmeBazaar told dna.
"The ‘Start-up India’ initiative by the Indian government is timed very well, and will help India in becoming the global leader in the start-up sector in the next couple of years," he added.
"India has the reputation of starting slow and catching up fast. I am sure with this early edge, we will lead in this sector in the times to come."
"This initiative will be instrumental to catapult us to the position of No. 1 economy in the world, as predicted by industry estimates, in the next 15-25 years.” Murthi said.
CouponDunia
Chief Operating Officer, CouponDunia Ankita Tandon, told dna, "India is the land of opportunities for young entrepreneurs. People from diverse sectors like engineering and others are choosing start-up as a career and in fact many of them have the entrepreneurial zeal and the spirit to set up their own business as well as compared to the past few years. More and more Indians are returning home due to the plethora of opportunities available for entrepreneurs."
She said that CouponDunia is one such example. In theory, everything seems perfect, however, in reality, there are a lot of challenges faced by start-ups in India, Tandon added. "The general ease of doing business in India is not yet in place. The pace at which start-ups operate is very fast whereas government processes are lengthy and often take a long time for clearance formalities and paperwork.
"Through the 'Start Up India, Stand Up India' initiative, we expect our government to simplify all these processes and make it easier for the start-up community to not only set up but also scale up their business. Our Government should also encourage micro-entrepreneurship by investing and dedicating an exclusive fund for entrepreneurs apart from the one’s provided by the VCs and angel investors," she said.
Furthermore, she also wants the government to address challenges faced by start-up companies and set up proper compliance and redressal forums for addressing these issues. Any start is a good start, she concluded.
Holachef
"As an entrepreneur, I look at the Start Up India, Stand Up India with a lot of eagerness. This is a much needed initiative, Saurabh Saxena, CEO and Founder of Holachef told dna.
"Technology and innovation is at its very nascent stage in India and a boost from the government in this sector can result in opening up many avenues. Various sectors such as healthcare, environment and education can benefit with this program and we can create a win-win situation for entrepreneurs and the country’s growth and development agenda at once."
"The government should invest in building startup incubators and provide easy access to various other resources that a new business needs when starting out. There should be a provision for seed money to newer start-ups, especially in sectors that the government wants to encourage," Saxena said.
UrbanLadder
"Clarity of listing norms, faster clearances and inclusive growth will encourage entrepreneurs to build innovative businesses, Ashish Goel, Founder and CEO," UrbanLadder told dna.
"Secondly, there is a need for a seasoned entrepreneur to chair the Entrepreneurial Cell to have a better perspective of the challenges faced and resolve issues faster. Lastly, if India wants to leapfrog and build product startups, there is a need for a high quality design standardisation to instil basic design principles for world class product design."
"We are positive this initiative will pave the way to create several future global giants from India," Goel said.
MobiKwik
"The startup ecosystem has undergone a near revolution in the past couple of years, CEO MobiKwik, Bipin Preet Singh told dna.
"VCs and investors are continuously scouting the Indian market to invest in promising ideas, and the youth is making a bee line to work in start ups rather than established multinationals given the huge growth opportunities the former offer."
"The government too recognises the game-changing potential of India as a global start-up hub. However, some definitive steps are required from the government to further fuel the growth of this industry. Relaxed taxation policies, faster regulatory approvals, an increase in infrastructural support are some of the immediate measures that the government must address. Given these sops, it is only a matter of time and India will catapult into the league of best start up countries of the world."
Freecharge
"Government in the past has come up with some great initiatives to encourage the innovation culture in India. It has to now take some big steps in the battle against usage of cash as going cashless can solve multiple problems of the country and embracing digital payments more actively can solve many of the problems," Kunal Shah, Co-Founder, CEO, FreeCharge said.
"We are looking forward to policies and incentives that encourages non cash behaviour," he said.
"Government should take initiatives for incentivising non-cash behaviour rather than make customers pay more for using the most convenient way of making payments," Shah added.
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