Bhubaneswar: While interacting with an eclectic gathering of more than 500 startups, entrepreneurs and policy makers Rajan Anandan Vice President & M.D, Google for South-East Asia & India called upon the startups to focus on the needs of India-2 and India-3. He said that most of the startups in the country have so far been targeting what he described as India-1 i.e. the first 100 million internet users. For any enterprise to succeed in the long run and fully achieve scale, it is vital to target India-2 (100-300 million internet users) and India-3 (300-650 million internet users).
He added that India is now at an interesting curve, where the users of internet are growing exponentially. Whereas, today there are 400 million internet users, by 2020 there would be 650 million internet users. He stated that Google’s mission is to provide internet access to every Indian and for this purpose, they have been taking a number of initiatives including ‘Internet Sathi’, which is currently operational in 60,000 villages and will extend to 3 lakh villages by 2018.
Also, they are providing high speed free Wi-Fi access at public places such as railway stations including Bhubaneswar. He outlined key digital trends, which shall influence markets in future with e-commerce buyers which are likely to grow 3x in India from the current 60 million to 175 million buyers by 2020, thereby accounting for 25% of the organized retail sales.
The expected growth shall lead to e-commerce market size of $200 billion by 2025. He highlighted that digital payment market is also at an inflection point with 50% of all consumer payment transactions likely to go non-cash by 2023. He also mentioned that regulations will have to facilitate entrepreneurship so that the private sector fills up the critical gaps.
He commended the efforts of ‘Startup Odisha’, an initiative of Govt. of Odisha, with a vision to nurture 1000 startups in the state and mentioned that creation of a vibrant ecosystem with excellent educational facilities (that are already existing in the state), a funding ecosystem which encourages local HNI’s to become Angel Investors, access to Mentors etc. will be critical in positioning Odisha as a major startup hub of the country.
He also emphasised on the need to celebrate successful Odia entrepreneurs, which will motivate others to pursue entrepreneurship. In terms of vision, he mentioned that Odisha can lead the way for other states by ensuring access to digital infrastructure across the state. This in turn will lead to flourishing rural entrepreneurship and encourage existing enterprises to go online.
Principal Secretary, MSME, L.N Gupta stated that ‘Technology provides the wings for positive change’. He stated that Anandan with his illustrious entrepreneurial career is an inspiration for innovators. Anandan is an angel investor himself, being a founder of Blue Ocean Ventures, an angel fund that invests in technology based enterprises. He hoped that the startups and entrepreneurs will be benefited from the interaction.
Jogendra Behera, Minister, MSME, R. Balkrishnan, DC-cum-ACS and other senior officers also attended the session.
Source: orissadiary
