‘Small towns in India will write the next chapter of India’s startup story’ – 20 quotes on the India business opportunity

Launched in 2014, StoryBites is a weekly feature from YourStory, featuring notable quotable quotes in our articles of this past week (see the previous post here). Share these 20 gems and insights from the week of October 11-17 with your colleagues and networks, and check back to the original articles for more insights. See also our special compilation of quotes related to India’s coronavirus responses here.

Personal finance is a big opportunity in India and customers always prefer to buy from trusted sources. - Rajesh P Nair, EarnWealth

The Indian financial services ecosystem is undergoing an exciting shift to digital across banking, credit, payments, and investing. - Alex Cook, Tiger Global Management

India is a young market, where credit awareness is just coming in. The pandemic has boosted the demand for lending and consumers are looking at credit as a means to improve their lives.- Prashanth Ranganathan, PayU Finance

There is a unique role for social enterprises to intervene and build livelihood opportunities through market-linkages while addressing basic infrastructure, and resource challenges in rural India. - Ajaita Shah, Frontier Markets

In India, various laws are emerging to ensure ESG compliance. It is important for companies, including SMBs, to ensure compliance to not lose customers, suppliers, and employees. - Joseph Varughese

Video and social commerce is already at almost 15 percent of the ecommerce industry of India, and ecommerce itself is expected to reach $99 billion by 2024 in India. - Divya Dixit, ALTBalaji

Growing steadily with every passing year, the Indian poker industry has a lot of potential. - Pratibha Arya, PokerBaazi

ALSO READ

Indian startups go ballistic in Q3 2021, raise highest ever Y-o-Y funding in past 7 years

The space sector means better speed from shipment to delivery for entrepreneurs, this also means better security and income for fishermen and better forecast of the natural calamity. - PM Modi

Drivers in developing nations are not well disciplined and often drive solely based on their perception of the road geometry. - Akhilesh Kumar Maurya, IIT Guwahati

Higher education in India is more focused now; it's producing disciplinary experts and has grown in a remarkable way. - Anil Joshi, Unicorn India Ventures

The COVID-19 outbreak has accelerated the need for new, engaging, and interactive methods, and going forward, India will take the next step with a “tribrid” model of — classroom, online, and experiential learning. - Naina Jamakhandimath, Matific

Our MSMEs are the backbone of our economy, and their growth is key to helping us achieve our vision of making Tamil Nadu a $1 trillion economy by 2030. - Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin

After this festive season over the next three to four months businesses in India will be back to more than pre-pandemic levels. - Ankit Nagori, Curefoods

The sleep industry in India has been a fairly late entrant. It is now seeing new innovations and a widening of choices for the consumer, both in terms of products and unique brands that offer sleep-aid products. - Harshil Salot, The Sleep Company

ALSO READ

This startup is making sustainability in industries a reality with affordable green chemicals

Indian food and grocery market is the world’s sixth largest, with retail contributing to 70 percent of the sales. - Sanjiv Lal, Rallis India

With an increasing number of people getting educated, plant-based alternatives are becoming the buzz in the country. - Basan Patil, Alt Co

There is a huge opportunity for growth in the pickle and papad market in India. - Umesh Rathi, Ram Bandhu

ALSO READ

[Startup Bharat] These accelerators, mentors, and investors are backing small-town startups

Today, tier-II and tier-III cities are emerging business hubs with consumer demand from these cities steadily growing as internet proliferation and smartphone usage increases. - Amit Monga, ANS Commerce

90 percent of the country doesn't speak English and converses in thousands of regional languages. - Mayank Bidawatka, Koo App

Small towns in India will write the next chapter of India’s startup story. - Ritesh Agarwal, Oyo

YourStory has also published the pocketbook ‘Proverbs and Quotes for Entrepreneurs: A World of Inspiration for Startups’ as a creative and motivational guide for innovators (downloadable as apps here: Apple, Android).

YourStory’s flagship startup-tech and leadership conference will return virtually for its 13th edition on October 25-30, 2021. Sign up for updates on TechSparks or to express your interest in partnerships and speaker opportunities here.

For more on TechSparks 2021, click here.