Start-ups find it easier in Indian market: Survey

NEW DELHI - Start-ups are finding it easier to penetrate the Indian market, especially in the consumer goods and small and medium business segments, due to high economic growth, low costs and an advanced software industry, a survey reveals.

Domestic market presents huge opportunity in the small and medium business segment and enterprise space. The key factors driving the opportunity in the domestic market include the fast pace economic growth and the growing software market, according to a study conducted by Zinnov Management Consulting.

Over the last few years, we have seen a number of improvements in the Indian ecosystem in terms of availability of talent, evolving innovation clusters and a growing number of successful IT companies, Pari Natarajan, chief executive officer of Zinnov Management Consulting, said in a statement.

The ingrained characteristics of the Indian start up ecosystem are strong. There is a strong MNC R&D presence along with a budding VC/angel community. Furthermore, the country is the melting pot for talent and the strong connect with Silicon Valley and legacy of entrepreneurship are the factors working in favour of the start-up ecosystem here, he said.

The study reveals that the domestic market is the easiest to penetrate and taking the least amount of time to break in for the start-ups, followed by the other growth markets and developed markets, with the latter being the toughest to crack in terms of time and efforts.

Marked by high competition and demanding brand conscious customers, the developed markets in todays scenario are the most difficult to penetrate.

The study further highlights that lack of sales and marketing capabilities, adequate funds and deep customer insight are some of the stumbling blocks for the start-ups in India to effectively penetrate these markets. As a result, the developed markets pose the biggest challenge to the Indian start-ups.