Budget 2020: Watch startup founders and investors discuss wishlist to propel India towards $5T dream

India is gearing up to an ambitious GDP goal of $5 trillion by 2025. To achieve this growth rate, one of the strongest force-multipliers is the startup innovation engine and the startup economy. 

Since 2014, startups have collectively raised $50 billion across 3,700+ deals. With 39,000+ startups and 33+ unicorns, India is today home to the third largest startup ecosystem, behind only the US and China.

There are 250+ quality accelerator-incubator systems, and about 500 institutional and 2,000 active investors. 

The ecosystem has already yielded 500+ acquisitions and created 750,000 jobs. Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Delhi-NCR house 50 percent of all active startups, which have emerged as global players. 

Projections indicate that by 2025, India may well have 100,000+ startups, employ 3.25+ million people, and produce 100+ unicorns, with a total market value north of $500 billion.  

This year, on India’s 71st Republic Day parade at the Rajpath in New Delhi on January 26, it was heartening to see a special tableau of Startup India, built on the theme, ‘Startups: Reach for the Sky’. The tableau showcased various stages of the lifestyle of a startup and the all-round policy support from the government. 

Startups have truly become mainstream.

On the eve of Budget 2020, the question to ask is how do we grow and empower startups, and more importantly how do we create conditions for ease of business for startups in the country?

All my guests in this special pre-Budget debate have played a crucial role in building and growing the startup ecosystem in India. Naganand Doraswamy, Managing Partner, Ideaspring Capital, Ganesh Raju, Founder and CEO TurboStart, Parag Dhol, General Partner, Inventus India, Vivek Gupta, Co-founder Liciousus, Anil G, COO and Co-founder of Bounce, all had interesting points to share making this an interesting and a meaningful conversation.

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Do watch the whole conversation where the entrepreneurs and investors talk about how India can improve its ease of business, what they expect from the Budget this year, and much more. 

And I hope you will enjoy watching this as much as I did moderating the conversation. 

[Watch the full debate here]

Here’s the timestamp for the topics that were covered for your easy reference.  

At (0:05): How can the government create conditions for the ease of doing business for startups in India?

At (15:16): Taxation woes and what can be done.

At (19:20): Will more capital flow simplify the process of M&As?

At (21:55): How can B2B startups grow?

At (25:44): How do we see more domestic capital coming into the startup space?

At (33:40): The question of protecting Indian startups from American and Chinese companies with deep pockets competing in India.

At (41:34): Expectations from the Budget this year and what the ecosystem can expect from the invited guests.