NEW DELHI: Funds from LIC, Pension Funds and others should become easily available in form of Limited Partners (LPs) funds, said Ramesh Abhishek, Secretary of Industrial Policy and Promotion of India (DIPP) on Friday, adding that these funds have to step in to incubate entrepreneurs.
The government, said Abhishek, is keen to free up various funds that are available with it. Assuring a team of entrepreneurs attending the India Economic Summit organised by WEF and CII here, Abhishek asserted that policy changes will be followed up with action at the ground level.
“The government is committed to making startups a success,” he said.
With the Centre keen on promoting Startups, the onus now lies with state governments to get “excited” about the mission, said Abhishek, adding that it will solve several ground level hurdles. “Problems exist… but the intent is there from government to resolve it. It gives us hope,” said Ritesh Agarwal, Founder and CEO of Oyo Rooms, India.
With the environment getting highly competitive, speakers pointed out that Indian entrepreneurs need to be consistently innovative to succeed. Competitors, from both domestic and global firms, will challenge incumbents, according to Agarwal, who said there was nothing wrong with that.
“We need to change mindsets… currently we see startups coming up only in the online segment. We should broaden it to agriculture, pharma, health, education and other sectors too,” pointed out Srivastan Rajan, Chairman, Bain and Company India.
Speakers at the summit also touched upon the challengesstartups face in human resources. “It is shockingly irrational and unreasonable to expect the kind of salary being demanded (by potential hires),” pointed out Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Founder and CEO, Paytm.
Most premiere technical Institutions like the Indian Institutes of Technology and IIMs demand that their students get paid high salaries.
That the lack of skilled manpower would be a major challenge, was a thread that ran through the discussion.
“There is a need for the right skills for emerging jobs and adaptability to new demands in the job market… automobile engineers are no longer needed by just auto companies, but are also in demand at Google. That’s the reality,” said Sergio Picareli, Regional Head, Adecco Group.