On 15th January 2022 our honourable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi Ji announced that the 16th of January will be celebrated as National Start-Up Day in India to promote and help the start-up culture in India. On the same day in 2016, our Indian government launched the start-up India initiative that has proven to improve our national ecosystem.
What is a Start-up?
According to Wikipedia, A start-up is a company or project undertaken by an entrepreneur to seek, develop and validate a scalable business model.
Whereas Forbes defined start-ups as – Start-ups are young companies funded to develop a unique product or service, bring it to market and make it irresistible and irreplaceable for customers.
How do start-ups work?
Start-ups work like all other companies. A group of people comes together to form a product or service to offer their targeted customers. For example:- For a restaurant, the services or products they can provide to their targeted customers can be meal kits, food beverages, frozen food items, dining, etc.
Process of start-ups
Any business or start-ups journey is not a cakewalk but, if the process is planned and followed correctly then anyone can succeed in their venture by making the start-up journey easy and exciting.
- Get the product out – The first step is getting the product or service out for the targeted audience. For example:- For a law firm, the services they can provide are legal consultation to clients, can offer arbitration and other third party services to clients, the formation of legal documents, etc.
- Build a team – In starting up a start-up it can involve a lot of risks so it becomes necessary to form a required team to support your start-up at each level. It includes sales and product managers, marketing officers, bankers, advisors, accountants, etc. Building an effective team at the early stages of a start-up is the most important component in the success of a venture.
- Build a company – After building the product, service, and team the next step is to build a company. This step includes registering your business name, applying for a business license, filing for a trademark, getting a Udyam ID number, business PAN/GST number, creating a separate bank account in the name of the company, etc.
- Start expanding – After building a company the next step is expansion. Start expanding your business through organic and paid search results on Google, Analyse your competition, pick a location for your start-up with growth potential, etc.
- Register for investments – After reaching a definite height of a business make your company eligible to register for various kinds of investments like mutual funds, debentures, etc. To be able to register for investments is not an easy task but with the right approach, right team, right product/service, right targeted audience and with consistency, it becomes a lot easier.
Scope of start-ups in India
In India, the economy is undergoing an immense makeover as the growth rate of start-ups is rapidly increasing because people have started adapting to change. The Indian economy has also adopted some new strategies rolling into the market focusing and enhancing the role and contribution of start-ups.
Earlier in 2016 Indian government had adopted some initiatives like the start-up India initiative which provides multiple benefits for start-ups to access a favourable environment, bank funds, legal support in patent filing, tax exemptions, start-up recognition, etc.
According to the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, the start-up India initiative and different government schemes last year have benefitted 4100+ start-ups. 960 cr. of funding has been enabled to start-ups, 828 cr. sanctioned funds for infrastructure, 377 start-ups benefitted 80% rebate in filing of patents and the list goes on. The Scheme targeted a 10,000 cr. fund of funds to be provided by March 2025, an Average of Rs.1100 cr. per year.
On 15th January PM, Narendra Modi said India has over 60,000 start-ups with 42 unicorns. He added India is rapidly moving towards hitting the century of unicorns. “I believe the golden era of India’s start-up is starting now”.