Entrepreneurship in India

Demographics trend in India, the second most populous country in the world, suggest that a million people join the labor force every month. This amounts to 12 Million Indians joining the labor force every year, which is more than the entire population of Sweden. With millions of young people joining the labor market every month, the question is if there will be enough jobs for them.

India produces too few entrepreneurs for its stage of development. The pace of creation of new businesses and new start-ups in India is low compared to the rest of the world. A slow pace of entrepreneurship is associated with a slow pace of job creation. There is huge heterogeneity in entrepreneurship within India, with new establishments concentrated in a few places. There is extensive evidence of agglomeration economies.

Supportive incumbent industrial structures for input and output markets are strongly linked to higher establishment entry rates. For a city, start-ups are more frequent in industries that share common labor needs or have customer supplier relationships with the city incumbent businesses. However, strong agglomeration economies and supportive incumbent industrial structures will do not explain why heterogeneity in entrepreneurship within India should be much bigger than what other countries have experienced.

The differences in the spatial location of entrepreneurship are not a result of the differences in entrepreneurial returns. Anticipation of abnormal returns is not the driving force. Demographics have played only a limited role. The two most consistent policy factors that predict overall entrepreneurship in a district are its local education levels and the quality of local physical infrastructure. These patterns are true for both manufacturing and the services industry.

Good physical infrastructure is essential to supporting entrepreneurship, economic growth and job creation. Goods and services can’t be produced or jobs created, without access to roads, electricity, telecommunication, water, education and health. The link between education and entrepreneurship has strong roots. Education improves skill and spreads ideas more quickly. Programmes that promote education in poorer districts can increase the supply of potential entrepreneurs, provide boarder benefits to the communities and enhance equity.

The jobs challenge faced by India will be shaped not just by How India invests in physical and human infrastructure, but by global trends towards increasing use of digital technologies. Heavy manufacturing is likely to start shedding jobs first. Light manufacturing still has the potential to create some jobs. Many more new jobs will be created in modern services. The future of jobs will be driven more by education and skills than in the past. Policymakers will need to introduce innovations in the content and delivery of education. The potential of technology enabled solutions, supported by a stronger foundation of digital literacy will go a long way in putting the future of jobs on a stronger footing.

The future of jobs remains positive, given that India is starting from a low base in entrepreneurship. India’s strength in entrepreneurship lies in its small enterprises. They are now well integrated in global supply chains. Last but not least, women headed entrepreneurship will become the new driver of job growth in future. Districts that have a higher level of local education and better quality of local infrastructure will attract many more entrepreneurship and create many more jobs.

National Education Day

November 11 has been celebrated as the National Education Day since 2008. The date has been chosen to commemorate the birth anniversary of independent India’s first education minister – Maulana Abul Kalam Azad.

Post India’s independence, the learned turned their focus to education as they knew it would be a fundamental pillar in nation building. Speaking at All India Education on January 16, 1948, Abul Kalam said, “We must not for a moment forget, it is a birthright of every individual to receive at least the basic education without which he can’t fully discharge his duties as a citizen.

An academician and a freedom fighter, he was given the charge of the Education Minister for Free India. At the time, India though free, was reeling through the years of exploitation and the nation was suffering from widespread illiteracy.

Understanding the fundamental role education plays in the development of the nation, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad as the chairman of Central Advisory Board of Education, gave impetus to Adult Education and Literacy. Not only did he lay emphasis on elementary education but also propagated diversification of secondary education and vocational training.

The freedom fighter and visionary was responsible not only for streamlining the education system in the country but also foreseeing the start of the first ever Indian Institute of Technology, IIT in India in 1951. The man was also responsible for setting up of The Central Institute of Education, Delhi which later became the Department of Education of Delhi University.

The setting up of the University Grants Commission in 1953 is all credited to his vision. He was also the primary propagator of Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and Faculty of Technology of Delhi University and a founder of Jamia Millia Islamia University.

Startup Sectors to watch out in 2016

With an eventful year drawing to a close, it is time to look to the future in anticipation of what 2016 can bring. Let’s look at some of the sectors that will do well in 2016.

Internet of Things (IoT) – Around the world Internet of Things is hot and the same is the case in India. IoT enables objects to collect data and transmit it over the internet, which means things or objects look and behave a IoT like it did in Sci-Fi movies. We will see some interesting applications emerging in sectors such as automotive, construction, fitness and healthcare where objects in our lives are getting connected.

Software as a Service (SaaS) – When Twitter acquired ZipDial early this year; it marked the coming of age for India SaaS startups and further reaffirmation of the quality of new companies in the space. Boutique and niche cloud consulting and services companies such as TurningCloud will drive the next generation of applications. SaaS has gone on to encompass a wide range of functions and global SaaS companies operate across like cloud infrastructure, security, marketing, sales, HR, ecommerce, retail and others.

Marketplace Lending – Born from the ashes of the financial crisis in 2009 and the widespread mistrust of the established banking channels, alternative finance platforms have become much bigger than anyone could have imagined. Using technology as their main weapon, these platforms has gone on to create quite a bit of ripple.

Education – India’s educational gaps are well known and the opportunities it provides for participation is well chronicled. Startups have managed to create a niche around Education Technology or commonly known as EdTech. While EdTech is relatively small in the space, startups like FutureVidya, EduPro App, EduKart, and Toppr are doing a stellar job in addressing problems in the education space.

Healthcare – India’s healthcare sector is expected to be $280 Billion in size by 2020, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 16 percent. Practo, Portea and Lybrate are great examples in Healthcare sector. The year 2016 is likely to see the sector grow even stronger as it starts tackling even larger and serious healthcare problems in the country. 

“E” Emerges Everything

Many important things, without which we cannot live, surround life. I was thinking about certain important things in one’s life and then suddenly I realize something. I asked my friend about it and start writing on a piece of paper. I appreciate the way she thinks and how fast she thinks. She said many words and I wrote them on paper. What I find is the importance of alphabet “E” in life. I thought that it is the power of “E” which drives everyone life. I will share every word here and will share my views on it. There are many more words but I felt these play an important role or meaning.

The first word came to my mind was Electricity and Electronics items. It is very difficult to live without electronics items these days. With increase in use of electronics items, digitalization is increasing in the world. Soon, India will emerge as the world power in Digitalization. Next is E-commerce. We all know how fast e-commerce business is growing in India. It is expected to reach $11.8 Billion by next year. EBay is among one such company. This year e-commerce businesses all over the world broke many records.

Environment is another word on which major countries of the world are keeping their focus. Increase in global warming and disasters are a major concern. Carbon emission from industries is also an issue. In G20 Summit 2014, President Obama talked about the need of control on Carbon emissions. Then we have the role of Engineers in the world. They are the ones who develop this world.

In life, Entertainment is also necessary. With increase in Sports events, Media, Television channels, and movies, entertainment industry emerges as a new developing industry in the world. Inside the corporate world, ethics of an employee play an important role in driving an organization. Education, Enthusiasm, Eagerness, Emotions are important in life.

Employment level of a country always affects an Economy. More Employment is generated more number of people will earn and spend money which is good for an economy to grow. This is the major concern in Europe since last three-four months. Increase in Empowerment is must for a country. The last and most interesting is the Entrepreneurs. There had been many entrepreneurs in the past and many more are emerging. India will produce the maximum number of entrepreneurs in the world. For me Entrepreneurship is living a lifestyle and creating employment for others.

There are many more words, which start from “E” and are important in life. These are Endurance, Enemy, Example, Everlasting, Excitement, Easy, Emergency, Exercise, Equipment, Europe and many more. All of us use one of these words daily. The idea behind this article was to look out for important words or terms used by people around us and most of them start from “E,” and I realized the power of “E” in one’s life.