India emerging as 'Start-up Hub'

The Start-up ecosystem in the country has evolved dynamically ever since 2016 with the launch of the 'Start-up India' initiative.

From a mere 417 start-ups in 2016, the number has grown rapidly with each passing year taking the count to 20,160 in 2021.

'Bamboo India' is a Pune-based start-up by Ashwini Shinde and Yogesh Shinde.

Established on August 15, 2016, this venture has changed the bamboo perception from 'Poor Man's Timber' to 'Wise Man's Timber'.

Bamboo India produces a number of innovative bamboo products as a replacement for plastic products, further contributing to environmental conservation.

Yogesh Shinde, Founder of Bamboo India said, "Even though we are the world's second-largest bamboo growing nation, we are only exporting 4 per cent to the global market. So I thought, why not the things we should take up because this is something directly related to the farmers? You can have lots of angles towards it like 'Plastic free India', 'Swachh Bharat Mission' or 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' or 'Skilful India'. So, all these missions can be fulfilled with this Bamboo. So, that's why I started this venture in Bamboo".

'Bamboo India' is one among the 13, 519 start-ups operating in Maharashtra, which is also the state with the highest number of start-ups, followed by Karnataka, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat.

In today's climate, start-up culture is attracting many young entrepreneurs. Boards of Indian companies are also increasingly including younger members.

As per data from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, more than a third of people who received a Direct Identification Number or DIN in the last fiscal year were aged 30 years or younger. A DIN is an eight-digit unique identification number, which is allotted to an individual who is the director of a company.

Already in the 2022 fiscal year, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs issued 420,000 DINs of which 123,000 were younger than 30 years, while another 182,000 were aged 31 to 45 years.

There have been increased funding opportunities, especially from private equity and venture capital firms, which is incentivizing youth to choose an entrepreneurial path.

The Start-up Summit 2022 that was recently held in Delhi also saw huge participation of young entrepreneurs from various industries.

The summit provided participants with an opportunity to learn from each other and exchange ideas in addition to offering access to funding and business resources.

Sneha Rathor, CEO of Sanfort Group of Schools said, "The most important thing is if somebody wants to start something, it's the funds that they require. And to get these funds for a start-up becomes a little difficult. So through all these government schemes that are getting launched in India, it is becoming very helpful for the entrepreneurs to come up and do their own start-up and that's going to give a very big push to the start-up industry in India".

Among the many start-ups that registered their presence in the summit, 'Go Waterless' stood out with its unique concept.

Established by a 36-year-old Entrepreneur, Nitin Sharma, the start-up provides doorstep car wash service in Mumbai and Nagpur without using water.

Instead, it uses a plant-based high lubricity spray to capture dust particles from the surface of automobiles.

Nitin Sharma, Founder and CEO, Go Waterless, "Our product is a very unique formulation. First thing is that it is a plant extract. It is not a chemical-based product. So, one way we are saving water to clean the vehicles and the product we are using is also a non-hazardous product which will not damage or penetrate into the environment and will not damage the vehicle surface".

Today, India is the world's third largest ecosystem for start-ups, which covers 56 diverse sectors across the country.

As of July 2022, India was home to 105 unicorns with a total valuation of USD 338.50 Billion.

Since 2016, the start-up industry in the country has registered 15 times increase in funding and a 9 times increase in the number of investors, making it an amazing success story of 'Brand India'. (ANI)