[TechSparks 2020] India’s potential is huge, youth and digitisation will be key catalysts: Deepak Bagla

“If you recollect, on March 30th this year, we did not have a single PPE kit in India (and) we were trying to source them from across the globe, which was a big challenge because most of the countries were in lockdown. But then on July 30th, there was a run rate of over 800,000 PPE kits a day, not just sufficient to meet our requirements, but also to export to the world,” said Deepak Bagla, Managing Director & CEO of Invest India, the National Investment Promotion and Facilitation Agency. 

In his keynote speech titled ‘Role of startups in Economic Prosperity’ at TechSparks 2020 - India’s most influential tech-entrepreneurship event, Deepak spoke about how the Indian startup ecosystem has revolutionised India, paving the way for a ‘new India.’

“Startups and small MSMEs pivoted their business models, came up with frugal innovations, and paired up with larger companies and suppliers to create quality PPEs that we could even export to the world,” he said. 

He remarked that India has come a long way since 2016 - when the Startup India initiative was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the aim of making India a hub of innovation and entrepreneurship.

Today, the numbers speak for themselves. He said, “We are ranked number three in the world in the (total) number of unicorns, number two in the (total) number of startups and number one in the number of new startups emerging everyday. And over 70 percent of business requests are coming from smaller towns, so growth of new India is going to be propelled bottom-up,” he added.

Data shows that 6.5 startups emerge in India every single day. This year alone, India added seven unicorns to its kitty, despite disruptions due to the pandemic-induced lockdown. He remarked that the startup ecosystem has also propelled the growth of tier two and tier three cities.

“We (India) are divided into 734 administrative districts in India of which close to 570 districts have a startup that is registered on Startup India. 

Commenting on the importance of Data, Deepak said that data is the new oil, as it will determine not just growth, but also the pace of any society and its economy.

“Just 48 months ago, global ranking put India at 124th position in data consumption. Earlier this year, India was ranked number one in per capita mobile data consumption, overtaking data consumption by both China and the US put together. "

“Digitisation has democratised access and opportunity, and India is one of the top greenfield investments in the world.” 

According to Deepak, one of India’s achievements lies in the fact that investors are comfortable taking a long-term call in India and also seeing it as one of the fastest growing market opportunities. He concluded by saying, “Aatmanirbhar Bharat means that strengths of India work with the strengths globally to get solutions not just for India but for the world - and that is the foundation for new India.”

For more information on TechSparks 2020, check out our TechSparks 2020 website. Sign up here to join the event. 

TechSparks - YourStory's annual flagship event - has been India's largest and most important technology, innovation, and entrepreneurship summit for over a decade, bringing together entrepreneurs, policymakers, technologists, investors, mentors, and business leaders for stories, conversations, collaborations, and connections that matter. As TechSparks 2020 goes all virtual and global in its 11th edition, we want to thank you for the tremendous support we've received from all of you throughout our journey and give a huge shoutout to our sponsors of TechSparks 2020.

(Edited by Anju Narayanan)

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