‘D2C is becoming the future of commerce’ – 35 quotes of the week 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 edition here). Share these 35 gems and insights from the week of February 7-13 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.

See also our pick of Top Quotes of 2021 on Entrepreneurship, Investment, Digital Transformation, Storytelling, The India Opportunity, Pandemic Resilience, Failure Recovery, Design, and Art.

The national animal of the country is no longer a tiger, it's a unicorn! Everybody wants to be one. - Aman Gupta, boAt Lifestyle

This decade belongs to founders, entrepreneurs, and the new/emerging brands of India across products, services, e-commerce etc. - Bhavik Vasa, GetVantage

It’s the age of the Lady Boss. - Ria Mittal, CAVA

It is time that gender diversity and gender parity get more focused attention from Indian corporations. - Atul Dhawan, Deloitte India

More capital, good founders, and massive consumption are good things to happen. India embraces several opportunities to build sustainable businesses. - Shantanu Deshpande, Bombay Shaving Company

The secondary market in India has really opened up, so an IPO is not the only option (for an exit). - Harsh Shethia, Investcorp India

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For a long time, we have been known as a country of great savers but not great investors. - Aditya Agarwal, Wealthy.in

More and more Indians are becoming comfortable with opting for online channels and apps for all their needs, including financial services. - Sachin Bansal, Navi Group

The majority of the people in India, especially non-HNIs, do not get the right, unbiased, and affordable [investment] service. - Anshul Sharan, Elever

If we can teach people to make better financial decisions, that automatically means more money is coming into the financial ecosystem. - Nithin Kamath, Zerodha

This is a good time to be in the insurtech space. - Sanchit Malik, Pazcare

The expansion of digital payments is an important pivot for creating a more equitable, prosperous and financially inclusive India. - Rajiv Kumar, NITI Aayog

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Shopping has also become far easier across the globe, and with the evolution of ecommerce, Indian products have become more visible to the global clientele. - Pushkar Shukla, Beatitude

The deeper ecommerce penetration and growth in last-mile delivery have catapulted the demand for commercial, road-ready EVs. - Amitabh Saran, Altigreen Propulsion Labs

By 2030, in India, you should see close to 10 million used cars transactions on an annual basis. - Amit Kumar, OLX Autos

D2C is becoming the future of commerce, especially in Tier I and II cities. - Harshil Mathur, Razorpay

Starting from fashion and lifestyle, we are seeing complex categories like larger appliances kick in and bring in [D2C] growth. - Ajith Pai, Delhivery

Social commerce complements ecommerce and will be the biggest enabler for ecommerce growth in India. - Kunal Sinha, GlowRoad

A micro trend we’re noticing is the shift from family consumption to individual consumption. - Varun Alagh, Mamaearth

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India, in general, has a very low trust culture, right? So there's always a little bit of hesitation when you're trying something for the first time. - Swagat Sarangi, Smytten

Unfortunately, in India, many people still consider art as something you do on the side. - Zahabiya Gabajiwala, ZA Works

For the global customer today, while value is important, they focus more on products rather than the price, which is different from what we see in India. - Shivani Poddar, Vedix

It is time Indian government provided dual citizenship. In another 15 years, exodus to US will gradually come down. - Pranab Pani, Talendeate beyond Border

Private cryptocurrencies or whatever name you call them are a threat to our macroeconomic stability and financial stability. - Shaktikanta Das, RBI Governor

While people [in Europe] want a minimalist skincare routine, consumers in India are happy to follow a seven to ten-step skincare routine. - Gautami Agarwal, SKÖG

Any random pub or restaurant in the UK would have gluten-free marked food options if not an entirely separate menu, which is hardly there in India. - Annika Dhariwal, Gluten Free Jio

It’s great to see India moving in the right direction of becoming a pet-friendly nation, but we still need to put in more effort as a pet community to ensure lasting change. - Yashika Arora, Paw Petisserie

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Although in India we were producing and manufacturing premium cotton/muslin, it was majorly for exports and wasn’t available in the Indian market for our own babies. - Surya Prabha, BeeLittle

Now is the time to introduce digital agricultural tools to the hundreds of millions of farmers suffering from a critical lack of basic information services. - Christine Devlin, Jiva

To ensure agriculture contributes more towards the GDP, it is important that 100 percent of farmers use modern farm machinery and agricultural equipment. - KS Bhatia, Pumpkart

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[Year in Review 2021] Top ten changemakers of the year

The incoming fast 4G mobile rollout in the country will land successes like what's happened in China, like Taobao, Tmall, and Pinduoduo, or even Tiktok creating conversational social commerce, supported in India's local languages. - Kevin Wang, Ameba Capital

With video content consumption skyrocketing, especially in Tier II and Tier III cities, video/live commerce will undoubtedly be a major revenue and growth driver for the ecommerce segment this year. - Sushant Puri, ANS Commerce

The vernacular market presents one of the biggest opportunities for any edtech company. It is a large, need-based impact market. - Karanvir Singh, Pariksha

Kabaddi has its own tournaments, but nobody has taken it online or given it the push it needs. - Suhail Chandhok, Kabaddi Adda

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).