New Delhi India’s booming startup economy has created millions of jobs. Experts believe that this could create millions of new jobs. Rajan Anandan, Managing Director, Sequoia India & Surge, said startups in India can create 100 million new jobs.
“China has already created 200 million jobs. There is no reason why we cannot create more than 100 million new jobs by leveraging the digital economy.”
Big tech companies and startups, whether food delivery, ride-hailing or agritech, have the potential to create not only 1,2,3, or 4 million jobs, but more than 100 million new jobs, he added.
Anandan was speaking to Anant Maheshwari, President, Microsoft India, at the Redmond Giant’s Future Ready Startup virtual event on June 21.
Startups in India have so far created 6.5 lakh jobs, according to a January 6 statement by Anurag Jain, Secretary, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT). Jain also said that his department hopes to create 20 lakh new jobs by 2025 by officially registering 50,000 new startups.
Anandan further said that India had over $40 billion in funding last year. The atmosphere has changed this year due to inflation and rising interest rates.
“The second half of 2020 and 2021, at any cost, was an era of growth for many companies. Now it is about balanced development.”
He pointed out that companies are now more realistic about what it takes to raise money and how much they can raise, and at what kind of valuation. But they are becoming much more rigid and focused on optimizing their cost structure, ensuring that the growth they get is driven with strong underlying unit economics.
“I think it is very, very healthy. So, I think over the next 12, 18, 24 months, we will see the underlying financial health of the startup ecosystem improve significantly,” Anandan said.
Anandan feels that the most important thing for any startup is to create a product or service that the users enjoy. He added that although Indian startups focus heavily on hiring talent, they “don’t pay much attention to culture.” He said that during the seed-stage programs his company spends a great deal of time building a great culture with the founders.