Entrepreneurship in India: The Next Wave

U.S.-India Insight--December 2011

When thinking about entrepreneurship in India, it is hard not to focus on names like Tata, Ambani, Premji, and Murthy. These pioneers of Indian industry have not only globalized Indian business firms, but they have also helped to pave the way for a new generation of entrepreneurs. Their examples, along with a very deliberate effort by new networks of professionals, are slowly but surely leading to a growing number of start-ups across a range of industries.

Entrepreneurship is vital to a vibrant, growth-oriented economy, and this is no less true in India, where the economy has grown sharply since the reforms of the early 1990s. India has two distinct advantages in terms of creating new entrepreneurs and start-ups at this particular time: it is facing a surge in its working-age population, when the rest of the world is confronting an aging citizenry; and it is able to leapfrog entire decades because of technology.

India’s high rate of economic growth (averaging over 7 percent annually) can only be sustained if approximately 1 million jobs are created per month. If India can, in the next decade, provide its next generation with the education and training for entrepreneurial ventures, it will not only create the jobs necessary to stay on a growth trajectory, it will foster more start-ups, accelerate growth, and spawn creative industries for the benefit of millions, including for many residing outside India.

Karl F. Inderfurth

Persis Khambatta