I thought the Report was a great thumbs-up to the spirit of the Indian Tech Startup. It celebrates the never-say-die attitude of Indian founders, and agrees with a lot of issues that bottleneck our ecosystem such as early stage funding, government policy, hiring, and incumbent risk-averse attitudes.

It also highlights the inherent dichotomies in the cultural and internet landscape especially the facts that a lot of our tech hardware is "Made in China" and that tablets and smartphone penetration, especially as the price points go south.

Some of the assumptions might come off as a superficial take especially the whole "contentment" and the "lack of competition" issues. The whole reason competition doesnt exist in a lot of the markets is not because those markets are not being explored, it's because India has different problems.

Applying a Grid of internationally accepted "Market Segments" would never do justice to India.
Theres no mention on the Grid of Education, Healthcare, Domestic / Global B2B SAAS, Enterprise Telephony, Loyalty Apps, POS Startups, Mobile Payments and/or Standalone Logistics Firms.

In these spaces, Indian companies are doing some wonderful work and are changing the entire business philosophies of small businesses who have probably done accounts by hand all these years.

There were also a couple of small inaccuracies in the Grid.

While Logistics, Payments, Credit Card Penetration, Electricity Outages, Infrastructure woes, and Government Apathy are easy to blame, we would be completely lazy if we couldn't find solutions despite these issues. Waiting around for a conducive atmosphere / environment will never solve problems.

Although countries like Chile and China have advantages, India has a relatively free economy, people are not terrorised, there is a decent law and order system in place and people are free to make money without Big Brother watching. These positives are not to be sniffed at in terms of a business economy and should be highlighted.

The bigger picture that I would have loved for this Report to capture is the "not-so-obvious" unique tech-enabled solutions that India is just crying out for.

There's an entire generation of small and medium businesses out there who have suffered from a lack of connectivity and/or education to connect their businesses. Automating ordering, sales management, and inventory are key painpoints within the Indian business community. Distribution is also another key issue that India struggles with.

Thanks,

Pranay