India's youngest entrepreneurs explain how startups use technology to address challenges

Young entrepreneurs from MobiKwik, Zerodha, 3one4 and Century Ply spoke at the mega India Economic Summit 2022 on Friday, October 14. Speaking with Republic’s Senior Editor Shawan Sen, the entrepreneurs shared their take on what drives their ambitions and the positive start-up climate in the country.

Nikhil Kamath, the co-founder of Zerodha stated, "We do feel a lot of optimism on the ground. I would say even outside of India when you talk to international investors today, they may not be very optimistic about their own countries but when they talk about India, it is always about optimism. So, I am sure we are on the right path. We need to be cognizant about the bumps on the road."

Nikhil Kamath highlighted that the country was doing better than the Western nations in several places and in various ways where it was once lacking. Kamath added further, “People seem to be more optimistic about India today, than their own geographies” while stating that India is being considered “the next big opportunity” around the globe.

Availability of various non-mainstream opportunities in India 

Pranav Pai, the co-founder and Chief Investment Officer at 3one4 elaborated on the various non-mainstream opportunities available in India. Calling it a “dynamic’ nation, Pai noted that the fundamental challenges faced by the country could be solved by building “young companies, startups, use technology to address those challenges.”

Pranav further listed the opportunities in India being electric vehicles, food, farmers, and banking, He additionally lauded the fact that India is a country where “1.4 billion people” have a “unique identification”.

Role of innovation in legacy companies like Century Ply  

Keshav Bhajanka, the Executive Director at Century Ply spoke on the role played by coming up with innovative ideas in “legacy companies” such as his. He signified the importance of taking up challenges to implement new innovative ideas while referring to the company's anti-viral plywood, which he calls “the first in the world”.

'When it comes to innovation, what has got us here today is the need to do things differently. During COVID, we came up with an idea to make ply virus free, they laughed at us, but we made the world's first anti-virus plywood', stated the Century Ply Executive Director.

“Innovation is critical for a company to remain a market leader,” stated Bhajanka.

Growth in India from an opportunity point of view  

The Co-founder of Mobikwik, Upasna Thakur talked about the changing aspects in India that attract young entrepreneurs to setup in the nation. She mentioned opportunities and innovation as the reasons.

“In developed markets, innovation opportunities are more incremental in nature” while “in emerging markets, opportunities are really fundamental,” she said.  

She also cited that at least a hundred more unicorns can be created “just in the fintech space in India, which is already the 3rd largest fintech opportunity globally after US and China.”  

She also stated that India provided a great platform for impact-driven entrepreneurs.  

Moreover, the founding partner of 3one4 Capital, Pranav Pai stressed, "There is an impatience in young India. All of us have seen it. As I said before, there is a drive to make sure that we move ahead faster. And there is a ‘don't care what they say’ attitude. That's great. We finally have an ecosystem that allows them to express themselves, to allow those energies in the right direction."