Whenever I have tried to talk to someone about entrpreneurship , ive always had the same reaction – the same “Too Fundu for me” face followed of course by utter disinterest. So this time around when I am writing in a blog , I’ll keep a question answer format. The questions are the most common ones which revolve around entrepreneurship in india. Please read the question , look away and think about it in your own terms and then read my opinion, I repeat, just my opinion. And I would be glad if you could add yours.
Why is that companies keep springing up in the West and not in India ? Why is entrepreneurship culture so highly developed there but not in India ?
At the outset I would like to say that it is not entirely true in the very modern age. Entreprenuership is catching is catching up fast in india and startups are sprouting up everywhere. There is a buzz about incubators and venture capitalists that is hard to miss.
So now we get back to why did we miss the bus during the dotcom revolution or the IT revolution etc.
1. West has always provided fantastic infrastructure and has always been ahead of us in “growth” and pure growth. For entrepreneurship to be a culture in a country, having access to the latest technology and knowhow is a must. An innovation will not remain so in a business venture unless it is sustained by state-of-the-art infrastructure.
2. We were not rich enough ! Simply put we did not have a flurry of venture capitalists and incubators or even the Government to fund us until the economic reforms of the early 90s came into place. Without the money an idea always remains just an idea.
3. The environment was not at all conducive. We had the License Raj and red-tapism that existed at every level. Just “opening a business” meant greasing the palms of politicians to bureaucrats(for permissions) to policemen to local ganglords( for operation). Very few businesses survived such harsh conditions with declining profit margins and if you had to open a company, with the import-export limits and taxes that we had, only the best of the best survived and became known as the Tatas and the Birlas.
4. The west had one of the best education centres of the world . With top colleges sprinkled like raisins on cupcakes, everyone had access to every kind of information which was pivotal to survival.
That’s it for now. More in my next post.
i agree with you on the third point…. I would also like to add that in India, if you want to do something different, your family, your friends will not support and will tell all the negative points related to starting your business rather than showing faith in you and supporting you….
Yes unfortunately the stigma is still there and maybe the more lucrative services sector or society mentality is to blame but with my experience of debating in entrepreneruship related subjects , it is a very hotly debatable topic(Changing mentality v/s No-we-are-still-the-same) so choose to put that out, but yes thanks anyways……