Articles
India’s Blazing Start-ups
Dt: 26/12/19
India’s Blazing Start-ups
Dr T.H.Chowdary*
India has been producing a larger number of engineers certified as such but not many of them are employable as engineers and much fewer of them are the ones who can start a company and make it profitable by launching products which the general public need and cherishes. The best among the engineering graduates are migrating to the USA and some European countries. There, they are producing intellectual property in the research and development establishments of American companies. Some talented persons are also being employed here in India by US, German, Sweedish and even Chinese IT companies. That is , Indians are producing intellectual property for the foreign companies and using that property the foreign companies are capturing Indian markets besides those in the developed countries. Recognizing this unfortunate situation, to make Indian engineers entrepreneurial, Prime Minister Modi has launched the Make in India program and to give the entrepreneurs the required finance the MUDRA scheme of bank lending even without adequate securities was began.
2. VAR INDIA ( the journal of Indian value added resellers) has in its Dec 2019 issue published a very excellent and inspiring feature on startup companies by our young engineers. A startup company which has a market valuation of $1 bln (app Rs.7000 cr) is called a UNICORN, a word coined by Aileen Lee , the founder of Cowboy Ventures in 2013. She is a Chinese-American.
3. India had 1800 start -ups in the year 2010; in 2019 the figure shot up to 40,000 ; in the year 2019 alone 1300 start -ups debuted. Most of them are in Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi, Pune and Hyderabad. India occupies the third place in the number of UNICORNs that its whose market value overRs.7000 cr. after US and China. The 4th & 5th places go to Britain and Israel . India occupies the 17th position in 2019 moving up from 37 last year.
4. Chinese start-ups grow to UNICORN status very fast, faster than those anywhere else in the world, because it is very difficult for foreign companies to enter and compete in China whereas in India Indian companies have to compete with home grown and foreign start-ups. Indian start- ups take at least 8 to 10 years to become UNICORN as compared to 5 to 6 years in the Silicon Valley of the USA and about 3 years in China. As of end 2019, India has 28 UNICORN status startups.
5. Indian UNCORNs occupying the first three positions are Flipkart, (retail business) valued at $22 bln, started in 2007 became UNICORN in 2018. The second, valued at $ 15 bln is ONE 97 (Paytm Mall, financial services) started in 2010 became UNICORN In 2017 in the third position is OYO (budget lodging) valued at $ 10 bln , started in 2013 became UNICORN in 2018.
6. All these start-up companies are using digital technology and developing applications usable by consumers . Their applications are in several fields like OLA (ride-sharing, taxi, food delivery), ONE 97 (paytm financial services ); Flipkart (online store retail) ; Think and Learn Private (BYJU’s) education & technology and tutoring; ZOMOTO (restaurant aggregator and food delivery ) ; Swiggy (online food ordering and delivery) ……
7. There were over 3000 engineering colleges at their peak in India producing (rather, giving certificates of graduation in engineering ) about 13 lakh graduates per year. About half of them are closed down or converted into some other activity. 30% to 40% of the certified graduates took their certificates in computers and electronics related subjects as the IT & telecom businesses provided the largest number of jobs. But they have reached a plateau . Application of artificial intelligence (AI) in the IT sector will reduce job creation. More business will be done by less number of people . In the Telugu states, fee reimbursement brought many undeserving young people into engineering colleges. Their attainment is minimal; they were trained to choose answers from a given number of choices but not to understand fundamentals of science or engineering and build upon what they have learnt. That is why the epithet, certified but not qualified is applied to them. After engineering, MBA is the second most preferred course . 90% of them are unfit to be employed by any company of repute in management positions. Large number of them are itinerant salesmen . It is a pity that young persons with engineering and MBA degree certificates are applying for class - four jobs, police constables etc. Engineering education is not for everybody . It has meaning only if the graduates can think for themselves, improve current processes, invent new ones and become entrepreneurs to employ many others instead of themselves becoming employees in every and any category that does not require engineering talent. (795 words)
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