Critical Analysis of Start-up India Stand-up India
The new initiative by the government for promotion of Start-ups in India points to a possible end to the inspector raj that has taken away the entrepreneurship spirit of Indian youth.
Importance
The initiative holds high importance due to the fact that start-ups are the next job creating industry in the country. Presently, the manufacturing sector is witnessing a slump and it will continue for longer period due to current global economic condition and slowdown in China. The increasing automation also reduces the potential of manufacturing sector to create more jobs. The government’s idea of targeting start-ups as drivers of Indian economy in the next decade has come at a right time.
Too much focus on technology and innovation
There is an issue with definition of a start-up. The present definition focuses on technology and innovation. But there are many businesses that are marginally dependent on technology and/or IP but if they solve a problem, they should also be included under definition of start-up.
Regulatory Environment more crucial
The Indian start-ups, especially e-commerce firms, are already able to generate enough capital. The government funding under the action could be directed more towards entrepreneurs who find it hard to raise capital in segments such as food processing. Tax breaks do help the start-up industry, but what is more crucial is the regulatory environment that should encourage innovation and entrepreneurship. Indian start-ups are shifting their base. For example, Flipkart is registered in Singapore due to absence of enabling environment in India. And also the simplification of rules and enabling environment should not be restricted to just start-ups only. The other business sectors should also be facilitated with similar environment.
The technical education funding is meagre
The technical education funding in India is still insufficient to promote innovation at the universities and centers of technology. India is way behind of China in terms of publication of original research papers by Universities. Thus, launching of new scheme without involving university education may have lesser impact.
The quality of technical education and motivation for research oriented study in Indian universities are age old problem. The issue of lack of quality of technical education and lack of quality graduates to match demands of industry has been raised by some of the well known entrepreneurs of country.
Similarly, in schools where basic infrastructure and number of quality teachers is still inadequate, how it will encourage innovation and learning to find solution of industries?
Need to be careful of bad debts
The initiative although encourages new startups and ventures however provide little to contain fraud and bad debt that may be arises due to poor implementation of scheme.
Stand up India
The Stand-up India is different from the Start-up India campaign. Former is related to new entrepreneurs while the later is a proposal restricted only to SC, ST, and Women entrepreneurs.
