Younger population is driving the start-up growth in India.
Young entrepreneurs are basing their innovations around healthcare and agriculture. VisionTech Fest of 2022 presented many innovative ideas such as drone monitors for coconut farming. Another one had an idea about a skin disease detection app that can currently detect 13 skin diseases and suggest remedies.
Md. Aslam, part of a team that presented ‘Implantaphia’ said, “Our innovation idea is an autonomous robot that can plant saplings after it receives instructions. Jai Krishna, member of the ‘Implantaphia’ team said, “We wanted to reduce emissions, so the device is battery charged and not of the hybrid variety.”
Md. Aslam said, “The whole Information Technology (IT) industry is based on innovation.” He added that now, the same innovation and technology would be used for the environment. He continued that the right innovation could even help in countering global warming.
Sandeep Agarwal, Head of Digital Business at Visionet India said, “The number of start-ups has increased because the industry has developed in turn to give them problem statements or analysis of the active problems.” He added that these problems give entrepreneurs the idea for their innovation.
The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIT) is a central government organization department which collects applications from companies to eventually recognise them as startups.
Manas Dasgupta, Founder and CEO of Talent Solutions Startups said, “There is a pulse among the student community to enter entrepreneurship.” He added that this was possible because of the ecosystem that has been created.
Dr. Manjunatha Basavannappa Chalageri, Principal of New Horizon College of Engineering (NHCE) said, “Student participation has increased only because they receive support from their parents.” He added that society has changed its negative idea about start-ups and entrepreneurship in general.
Giridharan Natarajan, Co-Founder and CEO of MVPRockets.com said, “Young people are investing and taking risks because they can afford to. They can live on a shoestring budget which is not possible when you grow older.”
Dr. Sheelan Misra, Dean for management, entrepreneurship and incubation at NHCE said, “In our college, we encourage the students to constantly work on projects.” In a recent start-up initiative by NHCE, they received almost 500 responses from both school and college students. The institution eventually funds the project if the selected jury finds it worthy of assistance.
Dasgupta continued that grants given by central and state governments help many students or individuals who do not have funds.
The data from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry shows that the number of start-ups in India has increased at a dramatic scale from 726 in 2016 to 65,861 in 2022. There is a 90 times increase in the total number of start-ups.
