Good question. There are a lot of factors due to which India has fewer entrepreneurs. Some of these are:
1. The education system: Everyone knows this. We had a great education system in ancient India. Creativity and curiosity were promoted. Practical education was emphasised over theoretical education. But then the British came and changed this. We tried to copy their education system and hence, created the most fucked up education system in the world. Currently, schools don't promote creativity and do not allow kids to freely express themselves, be curious and question things. The only thing they give a shit about are marks. Competition for marks drives kids, not the curiosity to learn something new. This discourages a lot of people who could be great entrepreneurs.
2. Lack of rebels: Rebels are very important for societies. They question the current ways of doing things and they change things they find wrong. India lacks rebels. Forget rebels, we don't even have people who can say, "I don't have passion for engineering, I won't do it" to their parents. Rebels are very important. They challenge the old and replace it with the new. We, however try our best to supress rebels and make them live a life of conformity. Rebellion is hated by everyone from school teachers to parents to any random uncle who lives in your neighbourhood. Everyone wants kids to live the default life. Those who don't want to, are viewed as losers. Very discouraging. But Its these rebels that make great entrepreneurs. If you discourage them, you won't have many entrepreneurs.
3. Mindset of society: Indian society truly hates entrepreneurs (before they succeed). My uncle is currently working on his second start-up after his first one failed. I truly admire him. But many of my relatives? They consider him a loser who couldn't get a job. He will make it big one day and hopefully make everyone shut the fuck up. So mindset of people plays a big role. Why would someone go for entrepreneurship if most of the people he knows are against it? Only true rebels still have the balls to go for it.
4. Fear of failure: This is a big problem too. Indians truly fear failure. My classmates cry when they get 94% instead of 96%. Most of the people I meet just want an engineering degree to get a job. A job is considered a cloud of safety which most people are too scared to leave. They just don't have the guts to take risks because risk = possibility of failure. Has anyone become a successful entrepreneur without taking risks or failing?
5. No passion for anything: I believe that you need to be passionate about something if you want to be an entrepreneur. Make your passion your business. But in India, I barely see people in real life doing something they love. I joined an engineering coaching class (and quit 3 months later) only to find that most of the kids there had no interest in engineering. But they still come to that class and learn and mug and cram so they can get into an IIT and get a "good" job. If people don't have any hobbies or interests, they won't have many ideas. I haven't seen any entrepreneur till date who wasn't passionate about his business. And if we have a bunch of people who aren't passionate about anything, we will never have many entrepreneurs because these people will be busy working in companies of entrepreneurs from other countries (aka the MNCs).

There are a lot more things. But these few are the main factors. Its not that all Indians are like this. But a majority of our population fits in with this. However, thigs are changing slowly and we are seeing more and more start-ups. Hopefully, things will change for better in the next decade. Its these times that create the best entrepreneurs. :)

I think it is because a lot of youngsters are preparing only for exams.

They are preparing for IAS, CAT, GATE and several other exams. Every year lakhs of candidates apply for these exams. These exams demand serious dedication, focus and hardwork which doesn't leave any room for other things such as entrepreneurship.

It is not that youngsters are afraid of taking risks. They do not have time for taking risks. It’s just that they are busy in their exams preparation so much that they are not able to experiment with their cool ideas.

Number of entrepreneurs will increase if students take some time free and think about their ideas and opportunities available to them instead of giving exams.

We have many reasons for it:

• Indians have conventional way of working and fixed mindset due to the parenting.
• our curriculum of studies needs reform and it is not based on practical ideas
• people are not ready to take risks and those who do are very good entrepreneurs.
• we lack skills and skill building institutions.
• we also need to work on the infrastructure as we lack in infrastructure for working on practical ideas.
• research and fellowship must be promoted by the government.
• Peer pressure amongst Indians let them focus on marks rather than the learning,
• the last and not the least is about who are the teachers. I regret to say that we lack efficient teachers and the way they teach is monotonous and they demoralise if someone’s is trying to do things differently. They focus on rote learning.

When I was in school, I was good at one thing: slogging.

I mean…logic was never explained, and we didn't even care to learn or understand. It was always about scoring.

By the time I reached college - I was a decent student who would always be in the mid-class rankings.

In college, I took the slogging to another level by literally writing whatever I learned on blank sheets and comparing it with answers to questions.

No one taught Logic, and I never learned the need to understand Logic.

That’s how the education system was. Lecturers focused on marks. Teachers focused on marks, and parents too only wanted marks.

We were given some ten programs to choose from in our college practical exams.

The invigilator would give us an option to pick from the chits that had the program number. So you had to select a chit, and the program you got was the one you had to execute on the machine.

I would slog and remember every single line of code.

In one of the exams, I got a program with some 400 lines of code to write.

As I mentioned, there was no logic.

I slogged, and then whatever I had learned by heart, I vomited.

During one of these practice exams, I forgot a single line of code ( in 400 lines of code). So, as expected, the final output went for a toss.

The invigilator would time and again come to me and tell me, “You have made a small mistake. Apply logic and fix it”.

The logic was an unknown entity to me. I had literally learned the program by heart. Now finding that one line was a task for me.

The exam ended without me writing that single line, and as expected, I could not complete the practical exam to perfection.

I got some 30 odd marks out of 50.

This is how engineering got over.

As usual, the target was never to become an entrepreneur but get a decent job in a software company and then go onsite - earn some quick buck. Then, come back to India (foreign return) and settle down.

If you are lucky, get a Green Card and never come back.

Being an Entrepreneur wasn't part of our thought process.

I got placed in an MNC as a software engineer, starting my struggle.

Within one year, I could figure out that I was decent but not amazing with coding.

I quit my job and started my company. But, as I figured out, I am good with many things, and coding isn’t one of them.

Being an Entrepreneur taught me everything I should have learned during my college days.

Guess what? I even learned to code well during my entrepreneurial days.

Today, I can write code as and when required.

Why does India not produce Entrepreneurs?

Because from day one, we are forced to follow an education system which the British had imposed on us. They aimed to produce executives, managers, and not entrepreneurs.

Guess what! We are still living up to their expectations.

Here is my journey: How our Unplanned Startup Started

India does produce many entrepreneurs but at very small or non existent cases.

Economically:India ranks second with highest number of start-ups. But is way behind in innovation. Despite the ease of doing business index, many Indian entrepreneurs prefer small scale investments over building strong firms.

Here are a few proved reasons :Please read all the 12 reasons carefully till the end.

1)Number of people who aspire to be entrepreneurs are low:

In Indian society, children are told to study early, get good marks and get into a good college. No one is given a slightest idea or told about the importance of deciding what you want to become. The full focus is on surviving till college.

2)Dreams are not encouraged for those who aspire it when they are young :Most young kids who aspire to be entrepreneurs are not supported by their parents when they take such decisions and parents do not even care to help them rise up to their dreams but force them to learn and teke Jobs by stating:What business will you open? Stop daydreaming and go study? Only sons of Industrialists like Ambani will get this.Business is purely based on luck and many other excuses.

3)Lack of investors on innovative products :Many countries provide and advise investors to fund projects of aspiring entrepreneurs till they succeed. Basically Indian investors have been observed to only invest in IT sector and already existent businesses. Therefore lack of investors make a innovative entrepreneur to surrender his idea .

4)Funding and process:Basically,The Indian market is the most different, bizzare and mysterious market in comparison to the rest of the world. Many Indians tend to have genius ideas and innovative products. But there are no people who Wat to fund their projects. Her is an expected instance:A person aspires to open a robot company, he comes up with a master robot with all features, best ideas but when he realizes that he is not having any funders or investors in his project, he eventually ends up selling it and surrenders. This is 100%of the main reason why entrepreneurs ready to start their career end up losing.

5)Situation handling :Beginning from registration of the company to come up to manage the business successfully as a strong leader is a skill which many Indians lack and are never educated about. Therefore they are afraid of opening a business .

6)Past economic situation ridden:In the past, Indian markets were small, standards of living and perfect capita income were low and therefore economy of India was slow and no one wanted to invest or try to open up businesses in such situations.

7)The type of startup:Indian entrepreneurs tend to be less innovative when it comes to new start-ups and end up copying foreign start-ups causing failures and giving them a bad reputation internationally.The type of startup also matters as some sectors of Indian industries are not so efficient.

8)Support and stocks :Like U.S has a research and development tax,meaning less or no tax on activities conducted for research purposes. This helped many scientists who came from poor backgrounds to make groundbreaking Ideas and later market them with funds provided by the government. India gives less subsidies to such entrepreneurs and they tend to go to other countries to gain such benefits.

9)Competiton:Very serious, an Indian entrepreneur interested in making a pure Indian phone brand has to deal with defeating Xiaomi and Vivo,oppo first before entering as he cannot face the competition from such phone giants. He eventually ends up giving his ideas to other companies but doesn't become an entrepreneur.

10)leadership stand :In this stance, An entrepreneur is meant to learn how to take leadership and have experience and Co operative skills but Indian society never let's anyone have any of these but focus on non skill mugging.

11)Infrastructure:Basic infrastructure required for setting up large scale companies is high and requires good infrastructure which India can provide but no for all situations. So Indian entrepreneurs emigrate to other countries to start start-ups.

12)Skilled labour:Admit it. We lack it. And we will have to overcome this to encourage entrepreneurship.

These situations are the most commonly profound situation leading to the lack of skilled workers and entrepreneurs in India.

Last:Do not worry, India is now in modern day era,ease of doing business has increased, Make In India works ,infrastructure is improving, skilled workers are increasing and people are smart enough to realize the truth, India is industrializing ,improving it's conditions,attracting investors and soon we will win the world economy. 😊😎

Because right from our childhood, we are trained to serve. Our mentors teach us to become doctors, engineers, MBAs and get employed which is considered stable and steady occupation with regular flow of income. What they don't realize is that the employers only pay a small part of what the employee has actually earned, in the form of salary. Employee meets the target, business earns money, employee gets a salary. Next quarter the target increases, employee works day and night, business earns more money, but employee gets just a bit of that incremental income and that too at the end of year in the form of appraisal. Is that how every youngster in India should lead his life, running in a hamster wheel faster and faster until he eventually crashes? You maybe a topper from a premier institution bagging a hefty salary package and considering yourself the smartest of the lot. But the truth is the person paying that hefty package, although not as bright academically, is much smarter than you and knows how to tame you and your intelligence.

Lolwut.

India is full of entrepreneurs.

Every street-hawker you see selling stuff he's making is an entrepreneur.

Cobblers. Booksellers. Vegetable Vendors. Auto-rickshaw drivers. They're everywhere.

Here's the definition of the term Entrepreneur:

A person who organizes and operates a business or businesses, taking on greater than normal financial risks in order to do so.

Example: Where my family lives back in Goa, there's a lady who drives a mini-truck and brings vegetables to our doorstep. For a woman to take this initiative, it's unusual. She's an entrepreneur.

Nowhere in the entrepreneur definition it says the word “scale”.

If you're thinking about tech entrepreneurs, they're all in Bangalore already either developing their startup or getting funded for it or somewhere in that process.

If you're talking about internet entrepreneurs, there's a very small number, and that possibly is an accent issue, I don't know.

Look at the CEOs of some of the top companies today, surprising number of Indians.

Nothing prepares you for entrepreneurship quiet like an indian upbringing.

If you are able to battle every member of your family, every person in society who says “Why don't you get a job at TCS”, “Sharma ji ka beta” comparisons, competitive schooling, the reservation system, corruption - you're good to go when you do decide to jump into entrepreneurship.

Dropping out of school and running a shop is perfectly acceptable in many cultures. Selling books on the roadside is perfectly acceptable means of income to a lot of poor people.

It's ridiculous when you say why does India not have entrepreneurs - I'm curious as to what you mean by the term and what kind of entrepreneurs are you talking about?

I am not at all criticising my country nor I am unpatriotic . But then we must call a spade a spade.

The entrepreneur in my country has many hurdles to cross. Should the entrepreneur likes to set up a manufacturing unit,he or she has to obtain 18 clearances or registrations with various government departments both central and State.

It starts from registering a company, getting PAN number, GST number, registration with central industries department, getting factory lay out approved by local panchayat and factory department and the list appears unending.

The government very proudly say that you put up an online application and all clearances be given in two weeks. What a joke ! You can't find even one case where the government officials did so in weeks. For them clearence means disposal either way. Most probably the application is referred back for want of some more details !

The enthusiasm of an entrepreneur is lost in the melee and he starts doubting his own abilities.

Getting bank finance is another story. It is ironical to note that it is easy to get bank loan of rs. 1000 crores than rs. 10 crores. Big businesses are always favoured. You appreciate this point well by looking at the size of nonperforming assets (NPA ) that currently the banks are plagued with.

There is no wonder that my country failed in creating the required number of entrepreneurs. The entrepreneurs you see are either promoted by their God fathers or simply very tenacious breed.

Indians are good entrepreneurs. Ironically, India lacks entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurship is a personal choice and doesn't base on your race.

I believe that the following are the reasons if someone doesn't choose entrepreneurship.

• Entrepreneurs are constantly in search/invention of something. They are never satisfied. Indian society is built on with belief of saving assest for next generation. So, the next generation doesn't have any need/yearning for invention.
• Entrepreneurs don’t believe getting settled statement. Some want to be settled at every stage of life.
• Entrepreneurs are not driven by just someone's information. They research till they feel convinced. Majority of the Indians believe the media propangada
• Entrepreneurs don’t believe in ‘free’ tags. Indians are good at bargaining and will buy anything if comes for free, even it's not required.
• Entrepreneurs are risk takers. Indians like to feel secured at all times.
• Entrepreneurs are leaders and not bossy always. Some like to dominate others because of authority/money.
• Entrepreneurs don't take others for granted.
• Entrepreneurs are optimistic.
• Entrepreneurs are responsible of their choices. Indian society doesn't like you to choose your choices.
• Entrepreneurs have their own big picture/goal. Most of the Indian parents want their children to pursue their parents dream/goal.
• Entrepreneurs listen to their heart/intuition. Some are allowed to follow only the society ‘s rule.
• Everything is dictated here. You will be supported only if you can show success. Entrepreneurship is not a deal to make quick money but it's a long term commitment.

• Because most of us still don’t encourage our kids to sell lemonades (or do similar activities that encourage problem solving or decision making) during their summer break. Most of us believe learning ends when we leave the classroom.

• Because we’re still in love with those old fashioned schools who insist that kids should ask for permission even if they need a quick drink or a loo break. Instilling a culture where you’re rewarded for your subordination, taught to follow the rules blindly, a bad habit that inhibits entrepreneurship. Culture of ‘The best and brightest follow the rules’ needs to change.

• Because demand supply equation is so skewed in our country, that a kid with even 99.4 percentile can’t get admission in his choice of school. Which means as parents we’re always setting our kid’s up for competition, wanting them to be a topper because there is no place for second or third. Thus encouraging a culture where failure is not an option.

• And most importantly, because we live in a society where 'Chalta hai' attitude is a norm. Instead, we should teach kids to challenge norms constructively by articulating their rationale and become a source of change that breaks the status quo.

I also believe there are many other factors which are beyond our control that contribute to this problem, therefore we need to focus on such issue at grass-root level.

Already many answered, wish to give new dimension to the same question.

By this time, many explained the reason, as we should look out solutions, at least one person after reading this, if turns to Entrepreneur, will be great
reward to India.

How to cultivate the habit of Entrepreneurship in India. Wish to start with academics.

The First Subject is Entrepreneurs Kit: Combination of Sales, Branding, Promotion, Marketing, Presentation, Innovation, Creativity, Business Design, Technology Banking, Risk, HR, Taxation, Training. All these need to try on their own under the faculty supervision or Internship in any local company is enough. Other subjects can add as per the university.

Entrepreneurship should be one among subject for all bachelors & master students irrespective of the streams Anthropology to Zoology (A to Z streams). Integration with preparing own model of implementation (Only 2 students as group) with on paper, experiment period between 30 and 45 days. University campus or college should give space, basic resources to execute the idea. Each group should take different business. Under the sky anything which is legal, new, creative way of doing business, real solution to our day to issues, solution for mankind.

Teaching team active participation in all the events of respective city to update, share the knowledge to the students.

Teachers, Professors need to teach to the students about art of handling circumstances, rising in trouble time, how to move with time, strong determination to succeed and living with admirations to others. (without University syllabus, with the directions of head of the institution)

Invitation to give seminars, presentations, group talks by local, national, international entrepreneurs in every institution.

Parents/Family encourage the kids to do what they love, have passion can be anything like making tea on road side to selling gifts to corporates.

Forget the plan of starting a venture with couple of years of experience, this kills your energy, creativity levels will change. If you want to do it, just do it (Like Nike promo) when you are in school, college or uni stage do it, don't wait for degrees to come, live, lead with your own guts.

However from last the five years, many startups are on floor, many more to hit. This is great good sign, for an example Startup Village working towards to craft 1000 startsups this is 100% achievable in 10 years time. We have 29 states every state should like Startup Village, we can see another South Korea, Japan, USA, Germany, Sweden in next decades.

We should be one among the "Developed Nation" only, only Entrepreneurs can transform this.

long story short - we spend the most creative years of our lives acquiring academic degrees rather than real knowledge which saps away our brainpower when it comes to creative thinking coupled with the Indian mindset of playing it safe as 90% of Indian kids are under family pressure from childhood to adulthood to make choices that are 'safe' rather than based on instinct. We are book smart and hard working, but we channelize our energies in finding that elusive safe haven while quietly regretting the things we didn't do somewhere in the recesses of our minds. And then we just hope that someday our kids would do what we couldn't do, and then when we have kids, unknowingly, we press them again on the path to a safe haven rather than free expression.

Also, failure in India is a black spot. There is a stigma attached to it. You just cannot afford to fail. Your failure marks you as the lowest among the low in the social hierarchy no matter how good you are at what you do.

Governance is responsible to an extent yes since there is no social security in India. In the west, the government pays you if you are jobless. And people are honorable enough that they try to avoid taking that route. The stigma in the west is to be on government support and not failure to do well in business. Try implementing that in India and half the country will sit at home and do nothing.

Another important point is that every economy needs to reach a certain critical mass to be able to support the next generation of businesses. In the Indian context, there is more hype than substance. The reason why ticketing sites do well and go to IPO while others simply shutdown or languish in mediocrity is the nature of the Indian consumer. Keep it simple and you will sell! The market has to be ready first for the next big thing. How many of you remember Apple Newton? It was the first PDA and it flopped massively because the market simply wasn't ready for it. Then later came the Palm Pilot and it made history.

Another point is the number of people who actually use the internet for transactions in India as well as the overall consumption in the economy. We are still a nation of savers and not spenders. I live in London and the population of UK is 50 million (Bombay+Delhi+Bangalore+Chennai+Kolkata) and yet the economy is over a trillion USD, simply because of consumption. Even a construction worker in UK carries the latest iPhone and this is not an exaggeration! India has a tax payer base of 31 million and first mover advantage in any category is very important because every other startup in the same space seems like a me-too. Look around you and you will see that trend in online retailing. The sites that do well in online retail are clothing and accessories.

The simple funda behind building any global scale business is this (except IT as the model itself is different) - you need to stoke internal consumption before you can build global scale. If TCS and Infy were purely product companies, then a large part of their success would have depended on the adoption of their products in India.

A very close friend of mine runs a startup in Bangalore and he has no grand illusions about the scale his company will attain in the next five years. He makes a hard core product which is extremely difficult to fabricate and needs a lot of specialized knowledge, not exactly one-night-in-the-dorm-room-with-a-beer kinda stuff. Even then, his focus is on the domestic market first and he knows he will never reach a billion dollars because that is not the size of the market.

The motive for entrepreneurship should not be solely about money which is the most common angle Indians take when they look at this. Entrepreneurship is about happiness. It is one way to achieve happiness - simply because if you are going to spend the majority of your life working, then why not spend it doing something you love? How many happy Indian entrepreneurs have you seen from the previous generation? Entrepreneurship was a compulsion and not an option for the previous generations because lack of good education rendered you unsuitable for a nice government job.

To add to Anon's post below, getting married is not really a problem till you find the right partner who is willing to support you in every way. What bogs down is the burden of family expectations and the bells and whistles attached to a relationship. In India, marriages are not about the couple, ever! There are too many stakeholders and too little accountability for those stakeholders except the 2 protagonists.

Try looking at the matrimonial section of ToI. In the 'Looking for a Groom' section, the only desirable candidates are IIT/IIM/IAS grads. That means everyone else is a fool and if the girl ends up with a dork out of one of these places, she can take solace in the financial security and prestige provided by the acquisition of such coveted qualifications. Then turn to look at the other side in the 'Looking for a Bride' section and you will find a multitude of people shamelessly publicizing the size of their paychecks since it's accepted wisdom in India that plenty of money is the best substitute for lack of everything else required to live a happy life.

Hope this answers the question.

I beg to differ with this question in the 1st place. Entrepreneurship is not a medical/engineering/management seat in an university, that there will be a lack of it. It is solely a self made opportunity.
You can be an entrepreneur everyday. just by doing things differently (for a start) and helping people with some trivial or daily issues. Thats what all big entrepreneurs do-solve problems. Obviously not everyone can build a multi-billion dollar company in a jiffy(those are exceptions), please accept that. But being an entrepreneur is like having a cake or your favorite ice-cream when u were a child, just reach out for what you love. Even the chai wala is an entrepreneur .

All that matters is that how much drive you have for doing something different and how long can you stick to what you started doing.

To answer the question directly, IMO there are over a million opportunities to be an entrepreneur in India, maybe more than anywhere else currently
in the world. Reasons:
1. Tremendously fast and growing economy.
2. So many problems at hand to be dealt with in the nation - education, food, affordable healthcare, technology etc etc
3. Democracy to do anything and experiment in the society, innumerable opportunities.

I can keep on going with the possibilities at hand. Just look around yourself, see what intrigues you and suits your creativity & I'm very sure that you'll soon build a huge company.

Bottom Line: Just start doing what you like. It's the first step to being an entrepreneur.

All the best.

We have already old Startups /businesses

But if they are excluded currently we have new 50,000 startups

India ranked third position in terms of startup ecosystem

But still we spot 23rd position because these new Startups born from 2018–2019 and few became unicorn in 2020–2021

Out of which 3600 has been picked up for startup Fund scheme which is worth 945 crore for these Startups for their backing as governmental support.

India will suppress world in terms of startup ecosystem in next 5 years. My personal view.

If one is really looking for an opportunity to be an entrepreneur, I think India is the country.

Word "Opportunity" is usually associated with employment. Entrepreneurs don't really look out for opportunities to be an entrepreneur.

India is country with more than a billion people. And these people face millions of problems. Many of these problems can be solved in number of ways. These problems are the opportunities for entrepreneurs to solve. There is no other country of such diversity, such complexities, challenges, such chaos at such a scale. You can't get more opportunities than what you in India.

Yes, being an entrepreneur is much more challenging here compared to developed countries but more challenges will also mean the quality of successful entrepreneurs will be better than similarly successful entrepreneurs at other parts of the world.

It has been well answered by most of the people here.
I think it (lesser creativity and hence fewer entrepreneurs) is a phenomenon with Asian countries, whereas the western countries are ahead in it.
I believe the reformation that happened in the 16th century Europe made them to question established knowledge of the time. It created a populace that was willing to ask questions, challenge, 'being rebellious', experiment newer options etc.
Whereas, the Asian nations, although were quite creative in earlier centuries in the 1st millenium, became lesser amenable to newer knowledge in the 2nd millenium. The emphasis on reinforcing or learning well the already established knowledge in Asian countries has been higher. Questioning established knowledge/ teachers/ elders was and is discouraged. It created a culture of learning by rote and hence lesser creativity and fewer entrepreneurs. Till now in India, a student studying well would be motivated to study professional courses and take up a high paying 9 to 5 job, rather than innovate, try new ideas as an entrepreneur. That's not the case with a student in a western nation. Germany is the best example of reformation.
So, I believe we need a reformation in India, similar to the one happened in 16th century Europe. It has to be in the education system and profession exploration. Now I notice more younger people attempting creative professions and trying to become entrepreneurs in India. We will have to observe a few more years or a couple of decades to see how well the entrepreneurship culture prospers in India. The support for that from the Government is very vital.

It's completely about the culture and environment we grow up in.
Think of this why are Australians so athletic or Japanese so obsessed with making everything perfect.
Same way we are brought up by saying you need to become an engineer or doctor. I would it's partially because of IT sector growth in india over recent years. But in USA people break out of norms at very early age. They take off from study to travel or do something they love. This gives them a sense of being their own boss at very early stages.
However, thing in India are changing now. I know people who are home schooling their kids and young kids are building basic ICs etc. Thinking has started to change and it will only grow exponentially from here.
Ps: you make sure not to push your kid(s) into the same old dogma.

There is no definitive answer to why there are fewer entrepreneurs in India compared to other countries, as there are likely many factors at play. Some of the reasons that have been cited include a lack of access to capital, a challenging regulatory environment, limited access to market information and customer networks, and a cultural resistance to risk-taking. Additionally, there may be a lack of strong support systems for entrepreneurs in terms of mentorship, networking, and access to resources and skills development. These and other factors may deter individuals from starting their own businesses and pursuing entrepreneurship in India

90% of Indian enterpreneur’s enthusiasm and hard working ethics slows down after getting VC funds. Just after the funds arrive, their shopping spree starts they start buying useless stuff rather than concentrating on the startup. One of my seniors and his friends did a startup and after grabbing fat angel paychecks, nearly all of them brought Audi Q3, just one or two of them bought different high end car. They went to a business trip to Thailand just to get a different atmosphere of meeting. They just partied there, roamed this and that street,instagrammed all the photos and the meeting never did happen. Soon after the money started taking nose dive, they started focussing on the startup. Later the startup failed and now they are back to their 9 to 5 job.

So this thing has to stop, don’t get mad by getting just some crore of funds and start spending like Dan Bilzerian. Your start up is your baby and you have to nurture it grow it give jobs to people.

As Victor Hugo said --

" There is one thing stronger than all the armies in the world, and that is an idea whose time has come."

Entrepreneurship is that idea for India.

Things that have held entrepreneurship back:

1. Till nearly the beginning of the last decade, Indian Economy was highly regulated and as such, setting your own venture (Small Industry etc.) was directly related to how much capital one had.
2. The previous generation of Indian grew up in the 60s, 70s where getting a stable high-paying job was prized much more than say, doing a startup. This generation is naturally a little skeptical of their progeny of starting their own ventures. Every parent and Uncle/Aunty knows of some 'arrogant' upstart who failed miserably.
3. In India, this failure is looked down upon, whereas startups fail all the time (~8 out of 10). Social stigma attached to failure is incredible.
4. Till 2005, there weren't too many inspirational figures of entrepreneurs who made it big without much capital. (There were the AMBANIs and TATAs, but can the average educated guy really become an Ambani so easily?)

THE BRIGHT FUTURE

• As the Indian economy is opening up and knowledge and skill becoming as important as capital(, the upsurge in entrepreneurship is palpable.
• Nearly everyone aspires to do "something of their own", if not today, then in the next 5 years.
• There are also enough role models today who made it big purely on merit without "family capital". People like Sanjeev Bikchandani, Deep Kalra.
• Give it five more years and you will find India becoming a first rate entrepreneurial nation.

Entrepreneurship is more of a mindset than anything else.

30 years back, it was difficult to sell India to the developed world.

In India, entrepreneurship and risk-taking is not looked up as sane. This has to change, if India needs to grow. India can’t afford to be a risk avoiding nation anymore. Risk averse India is the need of the hour.

In India we are conditioned into believing that ‘the best way to earn a living is to have a job? Entrepreneurship in India is perceived to be an alteration from the traditional focus on placements, and therefore is largely discouraged.

Step out of line and the system would nudge you back to your place. Show signs of real creativity, innovation or ingenuity and well caring parents, teachers, auntie’s would line up to get you back on line. Our culture needed obedient workers, people who would contribute without objection and we set out to create as many of them as we could. We were brainwashed into fitting in and then we discovered that the economy wanted leaders who stood out instead.

“Why fit in, when you are born to stand out???”

For the umpteenth time I have to shout, “Let there be light” but I am optimistic that the biblical creation will be manifested very soon in India.

Coz I see a ray of light, a ray of will, a ray of change….…..

The word Entrepreneur has lost its meaning since a past few years.

An Entrepreneur is simply a person who runs a business, however in today's world we only call someone an Entrepreneur if he has millions of dollars of funding and has a open floor office.

I notice a lot of youngsters who want to become an Entrepreneur especially after listening to success stories of companies like Facebook, Uber and a lot more.

But in reality that’s not what you have to do to become an Entrepreneur. Any person who owns a stationary store in your locality is an entrepreneur, your milkman is an entrepreneur. They might not have the same success as the silicon valley guys but yes they are infarct entrepreneurs.

India might not have a lot of tech entrepreneurs but we probably have thousands of them in real estate, hospitality, agriculture, retail, fitness, finance, services and a lot other non-tech domains.

Here are some reasons why:

• The "Epiphany"
  In India, the schooling scenario is not very entrepreneurial. A kid starts off in school and is fed upon the story that only education will lead to success. As a result, generally, most of his energy is spent on academics only and rarely does he get to explore other venues. Ofcourse, there are extra-curricular activities going on side by side, but he never takes them seriously because all the people surrounding him tell him to just concentrate on studies. The result is that the kid never understands the power of passion. So, he himself stops thinking about any loopholes in other fields and focuses just on his "career".
  This is not a very good decision for a future entrepreneur. The "idea" comes only if you are aware of the loopholes in the concerned system (among other things). I am not saying that now he can't become an entrepreneur, but entrepreneurship is an act of passion and so, he will have to reassess himself time to time for his passions.
• Originality
  Suppose, after all these ordeals, you have decided that you want to be an entrepreneur. Now, all you need is an idea. This is where half of the wannabes lose their hope and switch off to other fields. People are of the opinion that an entrepreneur must only have his original or new idea. This aspect literally drains most of the people and hence stops them. But I beg to differ. Google just built a better Yahoo. But the guys at Google were passionate about their work and hence they got it right. Originality is not as important as passion. You want to improve the sports scenario in India by starting an academy. But there are many such out there. No problem, go ahead and open it. You are more likely to succeed because you are driven by passion and not money.
• Disapproval from parents and society
  This is the main reason for lack of businesses by youth in India. As I said in my first point, people in India give too much importance to academics thus leading to curbing the natural entrepreneurial instincts. You constantly get the advice "Study now, get a good job, be financially stable then do whatever you want". This is the best advice for a financially not-so-stable family boy but not someone who is well to do. I agree that he lacks experience but only after exposures and failures, will he learn and still assess whether he has the guts to pursue it further. If people started thinking about what others will think of their actions, we would still be living in Stone Age.
  
• Financial stability
  This is something that the teen must assess by himself. If his/her family can't afford to take risks and waste money, he must probably wait till he becomes financially stable and has enough money to satisfy his whims.
• Inferior treatment
  As mentioned in one of the answers here, people in India don't respect much professions. They have the notion that only if you are a company, have your logos and websites, can you be called an entrepreneur. This is not at all true. Even the kid selling lemonade next door is an entrepreneur.
  Entrepreneurship, in simple words, is only independence and the motivation behind it is the self-pride one gets by doing things independently.
  
  This being said, the country is positively moving in the path of creating more entrepreneurs. More and more people are getting inspiration to start their ventures.
  E-summits are being organised all over the country to provide an open discussion platform for budding entrepreneurs to interact and sell as well as improve their product. So the scenario is improving. But the issue should be addressed at the root levels.
  Schools itself should teach children the importance of having a passion in life and not just rote learning. Only then, can we expect a phenomenon in the entrepreneurial space in India.

Entrepreneurship isn't fading. It's just that people who were into businesses that weren't efficient, or people who weren't meant for business in the first place are abandoning it. The nature of entrepreneurship is undergoing a major change.

"Entrepreneurship" and "Business" are two very different things. But that aside, this is a time for India where self-employed and independent ventures are blossoming more than ever before.

But before people can ride the new and modern age ventures, the older ventures do have to either adapt, transform, or fade.

And I believe that in the grander scheme of things, we are headed for a more entrepreneurial future!

Here's something you can go through for more info:

Will the good times continue for Indian Entrepreneurs in 2015? Priyan DC

Indian Entrepreneurs are Criminals...

Everything is wrong with them!

It is wrong to work crazily to employ the people of your country.

It is wrong to work like hell, day and night without taking any breaks for years.

It is wrong to fight with your parents, relatives, friends, teachers, spouses, to pursue entrepreneurship.

It is wrong to keep working hard, on your vision and idea even after being bashed every day by society, being laughed at by your friends and family.

Isn’t it?

Each one of us wants India to be a Super SuperPower, each one wants technology, innovation in the country, each one of us wants a high-paying job.

But have you ever asked how will this be possible?

Who can make all of these things possible?

An Entrepreneur.

Right!

We Indians are being Hypocrites sometimes, we want everything, we are experts at criticizing but don’t expect support from us.

Right?

Tell me, when your friend or relative have started something, you must have discouraged him or her at least once but have you ever asked him or her,

Are they okay?

How are they coping with life, even after being failed every day?

Have you genuinely cared about them any day?

No!

What did we do?

“Are y to apni hi dukkan h, humse kya paise loge iske”, “humko to free me doge na.”

Relatable, right!

On every other day, we share tons and tons of posts, stories, and content about cricket, politics, criticizing and appreciating celebrities, leaders, and cricketers.

How many times did you share even a single post in your stories, to support your friends' startup, who have just started?

No, right!

And then we keep questioning, why our country is not growing and people are jobless etc.

Ask yourself, do you even know the names of even 10 entrepreneurs of India?

Have you ever invested in any of the companies of our country through the Stock market for the country's growth?

Most of us didn’t!

On the other hand, we keep following the foreign entrepreneurs like Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs.

Well, there is nothing wrong with it! But on one hand, we are every other business and entrepreneurs of our country for this and that, but following the other entrepreneurs like a religion.

Ask yourself, are you genuinely doing your part?

Check your Instagram account and see how many Indian entrepreneurs are you following and how many actors, celebrities, politicians you are following.

The answer to the questions, why India is far behind the superpower can be witnessed in your social media feeds only.

We people don't have the right role models.

Instead of criticizing every other Indian entrepreneur and businessman, spend some time encouraging and supporting them and learning from them.

Our country will be much ahead of what we are today!

As the word spreads about Sridhar Vembu, an Indian business magnate having received Padma Shri under the Trade and Industry category, Zoho comes into the spotlight for obvious reasons.

Most of us have been unaware but it is astonishing for us Indians to come to a realization it was Zoho which is the biggest tech startup success from India.

Founded in 1996 by Sridhar Vembu and Tony Thomas in Pleasanton, California, this company had its necessary ups and downs before it reached its milestones for which it is being known. Named AdventNet Inc. during its initial years, this company expanded operations into Japan in 2001. As the founder himself says, they had humble beginnings growing by a handful of people at a time realizing that they were viable enough when Minolta in Japan wrote them their first big cheque for $200000.

Renamed Zoho in 2009 after its online office suite, it launched Zoho One (its flagship product) in 2017, reaching more than 50 million customers in early 2020 with its 88% stake owned by Vembu and family.

Now, the company is working on an experiment where engineers from 10 villages, 200 engineers work closer to their homes while working for the company from feeder offices. Vembu has also been teaching children in his village and went from educating children in his spare time according to Indian Express. He is now looking at a rural school startup where education and food are free, and a model that doesn’t have systems such as marks or degrees.

Vembu’s push to run Zoho out of rural India has led to offices being set up in rural India. Having a similar dream and ambition, I’m really inspired and I aspire to work harder for the purpose I pledge to serve.

What is wrong with Indian entrepreneurs?

Many Indian Entrepreneurs think that they need too many funds and resources for starting a startup. Many Indian Entrepreneurs want to be in the spotlight instead of being the problem solver. We can Learn from entrepreneurs like Sridhar Vembu who did really well instead of being in the spotlight. The actual torch bearer of Made in India for the world. Lives a simple life, gave away his lavish life in the US, to settle In a small place called Tenkasi in Tamil Nadu, which is also the new HQ for Zoho. Sridhar Vembhu is a real inspiration to true Indian entrepreneurship.

Namaste,

Rohit Kashyap

(Feel Free to connect)

TL;DR: Because its a relatively small market with a young startup ecosystem. In other words, it's a matter of time - the local market for technology products in India is still small, and product adoption growth and ecosystem evolution don't happen all of a sudden. Silicon valley has taken 40 years to get where it is today, while the Chinese Internet/mobile space reached basic scale at least 7 years earlier than India. The future of Indian tech startups is promising.

Long version:
I'll answer this question with respect to technology product startups, since the question refers to leading global technology product companies. This, and several related questions are often overheard in the hallways at conferences and tech events. Something along the lines of "Why haven't we seen a Google or Facebook emerge from India". Or with less hyperbole - Why haven't we see a much larger number of tech product startup successes coming out of India?

Let's segment this into two pieces - 1) Startups that address the Indian market, and 2) Product startups that address the global market

1. Startups that address the Indian market: The local Indian market for technology and technology-enabled products is really, really small relative to the market whose startup ecosystems we are implicitly comparing against. The entire Indian digital advertising market, all said and done, is about $500M this year (after a couple of recent years of break-neck growth). To put this number in perspective, the US digital advertising market this year is $37 Billion, or 75 times larger than the Indian digital ad market. The number for China is $12 Billion, or 25 times larger than India. Similarly, the eCommerce market in India is a tiny fraction of that in US or China. Similar (perhaps more dramatic) analogies extend to the enterprise/software segment.
Are the advertising, commerce or software sectors in India limited by availability of good products or good entrepreneurs that haven't tried hard enough to create a large company? Heck no! In fact these sectors are limited primarily by the spending power and technology adoption rate of our consumers, advertisers and businesses. Given where our country stands with respect to per capita income, this spending power is still relatively very low, though the ratios above indicate significant upside even with our low GDP (e.g. US has ~8X India's GDP, but a digital advertising market that is ~75X larger, indicating significant upside for the Indian digital ad market over time). And this upside will come from higher adoption rates, which build up over time, and not as step functions.
To make the marathon more uphill for Indian startups, in some of these sectors there are prolific global competitors (that have amortized huge product development budgets over a much larger user base, and attract the brightest minds in the world) competing for a slice of the same tiny pie. Many other markets do not face this due to language and regulatory issues, and local startups have more of the market available to themselves. However, this global competition also has significant positive impact on the local ecosystem through inflow of technology, ideas and talent.
The good news on the market side is that the Indian market for tech products and services (i.e. Internet, mobile, software etc) is growing very fast, and in 6-8 years years may be comparable to where China is today, for instance. And digital platforms with reasonable scale now exist (albeit with low monetization) - be it social with ~100M users, mobile with ~700M users or mobile Internet with ~100M users - to create the next generation of startups

2. Product startups that address the global market: Creating a successful new product typically requires deep/unique insights into the customer's needs and pain points, along with a superior ability to distribute and sell to those customers in whatever idiosyncratic way it takes to get to them. Both of these are things that are hard to do from afar - i.e. without being able to get under the skin of those customers, and without having had most of your employees be in their shoes.
Hence we find few examples in the global arena of countries producing massive companies that create things that those countries aren't themselves a huge market for (there are notable exceptions of course - Israel, Switzerland etc; or Indian IT services, if you will).
However, this is an area where I see significant green shoots if the form of Indian product startups that cater to global customers. I expect many large successes to come over the next decade from this segment. Many of these are and will be B2B focused, where product requirements tend to be somewhat more uniform across geographies, number of customers is smaller, and sales is more process than art. These companies benefit significantly from growth in the SaaS model, sales democratization over the Internet, and stronger teams that have seen the B2B system at work at successful global companies.

The second broader factor in my view is the age and maturity of the startup ecosystem itself. The key underlying supply side driver for tech startup success is availability of relevant skills/talent and the quality of the broader startup ecosystem, that includes capital, advisors, legal frameworks, mentors etc. Now, the quality and depth of ecosystems evolve along a continuous curve, rather than in step changes, so there is only so far an ecosystem can get to in a certain number of years, even at a reasonably high growth rate. This curve in India started at low (near zero) levels in late nineties, and stayed fairly nascent till mid 2000's. The Indian startup ecosystem had a key inflexion point in 2005-2006, driven by an influx of foreign capital (VCs) and talent (returning global Indians), along with increasing penetration of platforms (Internet, mobile, credit cards) that reached some minimal viable critical mass then. So we are looking at an enabling ecosystem, most of which is only 7-8 years old as of early 2013, and trying to compare it with ecosystems that are 20, 30 or 40 year old - an unfair comparison in my view. From personal experience, I can attest that the quality of this ecosystem is growing very rapidly. It still has miles to go, but it is moving the right direction, and at a very nice pace.

There is a long list of other irritants which are usually cited in response to this question when it invariably comes up - including poor governance, rickety infrastructure, conservative mindset among middle class, personal reasons etc. Each of these is an irritant, but in my view, these are all irritants that good entrepreneurs can and do get around.

A generally conservative mindset among 'middle class' and risk averse nature are often cited by many as a key root cause. However, much of the same should apply at least in part to Indians who have grown up in India with the same values, but now live overseas. However, Indians living abroad have clearly demonstrated outstanding entrepreneurial capabilities and mindset. There is published research [1] that shows that Indians constitute by far the most prolific entrepreneurial group in the US and Silicon valley, where 16% of all startups were found to be founded/co-founded by an Indian, even though Indians make up just 6% of the Valley’s working population (i.e. >2.5X over-representation). So it has to be something in the surroundings or the market, and not the people themselves.

Poor governance and archaic regulations are a big speed breaker, as any entrepreneur in India would attest. However, these are things that Indian entrepreneurs have proven they can get around. Look no further than sectors such as Banking, Media, Telecom, Infrastructure (sectors much more regulated than Internet/mobile/technology) which have each produced numerous successful new companies in the last 15-20 years. Poor broadband and telecom networks do limit adoption of digital products, but I think there is some correlation there with demand, and not pure one-way causation - i.e. as we see demand pick up, the quality and availability of internet and telecom networks also pick up.

Both of the key factors I listed (market size and ecosystem maturity) are generally moving in the right direction. Moreover, I think that the core focus of tech startups is also generally shifting from pure sales focused, to a much keener focus on product and technology, which bodes well for global success [2]. So in other words, my glass is full, and over the next several years, we should see an increasing pace of startup success from India as both the local market and the enabling ecosystem grow and entrepreneurs continue to weave their magic.

[1] The Face of Success, Part I: How the Indians Conquered Silicon Valley
[2] http://ideacapital.wordpress.com/2011/12/14/revisiting-product-innovation-in-india/

I went to a seminar today... and hence I have just figured it out.. You're in luck! Thanks for asking.
Even though us Indians consider ourselves citizens of 21st Century... Most of us are held back due to our family's or our own 20th Century mentality.
If you look at Americans or pretty much citizens of most countries outside India, you'll find that they have always followed what they love doing. A guy who loves to paint actually becomes an artist, a guy who loves spending time on the Internet becomes a blogger or an Internet personality. Someone who likes to make things becomes an Engineer or a craftsman. I'm not saying there are no cases like this in India or in Pakistan... These cases have a lesser occurence here. Every artistic job is frowned upon here... We proudly show the world that we are stereotypical and archaic in these matters: A boy in the family will be the breadwinner... hence he'll be an Engineer, the girl will be married off.. and if she has to do shit in life, she'd be a doctor.
Now, back to our topic..
The biggest factor I find regarding the failure of Indians starting Businesses or being in a job that they love is, Failure. We Indians are over-meticulous; we think of Failure more than Success. It's universally true that with big risk comes big rewards.We think of the risk before the reward.That is why, if we even start businesses, most of them fail... these failed businesses become examples for our youth, but not in a positive way.. Obviously when you start a job, you start a job with least risks and a "smooth-sailing".. Most of us find a business to NOT be that one job, no matter how much we'd love doing it.
This is an over-used line, but it really goes with the topic:
Japanese Mentality :
If one can do it, you can do it, If no one can do it, You must do it
Indian Mentality:
If one can do it, let him do it, If no one can do it, HOW CAN I DO IT?!

Can't say these lines are not true for today's India.
I feel that once we scrap this mentality and achieve our full potential, there is no country that can even come close to what India would become.