32.5% of Indian college students are already budding entrepreneurs: Survey
NEW DELHI: Indian college students have high entrepreneurial aspirations, with 32.5% of them already budding entrepreneurs and actively engaged in starting their businesses, a figure impressively higher than the global average of 25.7%, according to a latest study.
Indian students show the highest entrepreneurial intent globally, with an average score of 4.6 on a 7-point scale, significantly higher than the global average of 3.7, said the ‘GUESSS India 2023 Report,’ a first-of-its-kind survey on Indian student entrepreneurship, brought out by the India Chapter of Global University Entrepreneurial Spirit Students’ Survey (GUESSS), the largest global research project that involves a comprehensive survey on student entrepreneurs from 57 countries.
About 14% of Indian students plan to become founders right after graduation, closely aligning with a global average of 15.7%, according to the study conducted in November 2023-February 2024, which received 13,896 student responses enrolled in hundreds of higher education institutions (HEIs) across India.
It found that aspirations shift over time, with 31.4% of students intending to pursue entrepreneurship five years after graduating, compared to a global average of 30%.
While 69.7% of students initially aim for employment after graduation, this figure drops to 52.2 % over five years, with 31% of students aspiring to become entrepreneurs during that period - up from 14% at graduation, said the study, which marks the maiden survey of Indian students’ entrepreneurial spirit.
About 38% of students are involved in venture creation, with 33% in the nascent stage, the highest among global peers. However, only 4.8% have reached the revenue-generating stage, highlighting the growth potential.
It also said 63% of student entrepreneurs currently access university support, with 26% of student ventures being incubated. Indian universities are leading in creating a positive entrepreneurship climate, rated 4.7 out of 7 - the highest among leading startup ecosystems globally.
Dr. Puran Singh, lead author of the report and Associate Professor at the School of Management, IIT Mandi, said, “We are already the third largest start-up ecosystem in the world. We also have the largest youth population in the world. Harnessing youth’s entrepreneurial potential will be pivotal to our country’s growth.
“But do our students have entrepreneurship on their minds? Do they want to take it up as a career? We have never had any data to understand our students’ entrepreneurial mindset,” said Dr Singh, who is also the country delegate of GUESS India.
“Bringing out this data is pivotal for India’s student entrepreneurship landscape. We have validation of humongous resources deployed by the government to promote entrepreneurship from the top leadership of our country. The strong entrepreneurial intent and the robust pipeline of nascent ventures signal immense potential,” added Dr Singh, the former director and founding faculty in charge of IIT-Mandi Catalyst, an emerging incubator in the Himalayas.
He said that the rising number of entrepreneurship aspirations among students indicates a growing momentum for entrepreneurship within Indian universities, likely spurred by various policy initiatives in India.