Lack of market to hit startups hard, says T V Mohandas Pai

Jaipur: All startups have a bright future, but 60 per cent of them may fail owing to lack of market and other factors, according to T.V. Mohandas Pai.

The former Infosys director said India has about 30,000 startups employing about 3.5-4 lakh people and every year about 5,000-6,000 such ventures are sprouting.

Last year, we got about $13.65 billion funding (in startups). Today they have created about $95 billion of value, Mr Pai told PTI in an interview.

He also said by 2025, there will be 1 lakh active startups in India employing about 32 lakh people. According to him, Centre’s Startup India policy coupled with policies of various states, IT initiatives, success of Flipkart and others, have enthused more people.

All startups have bright future, Mr Pai said, adding that those who work well succeed. But the mortality rate is very high. About 60 per cent of them will fail. That is the nature of the industry, Mr Pai said.

Mr Pai, chairman of Manipal Global Education, believes that most startups may not scale up or get a market as they are all started by first time entrepreneurs.

First time entrepreneurs may not know how to tackle the business but the good news is that even if they fail the experience they get from building a business or becoming a problem solver is enormous, Mr Pai said.