Launched in 2014, StoryBites is a weekly feature from YS, featuring notable quotable quotes in our articles of this past week (see the previous edition here). Share these 35 gems and insights from the week of February 7-13 with your colleagues and networks, and check back to the original articles for more insights. See also our special compilation of quotes related to India’s coronavirus responses here.
See also our pick of Top Quotes of 2021 on Entrepreneurship, Investment, Digital Transformation, Storytelling, The India Opportunity, Pandemic Resilience, Failure Recovery, Design, and Art.
The national animal of the country is no longer a tiger, it’s a unicorn! Everybody wants to be one. – Aman Gupta, boAt Lifestyle
This decade belongs to founders, entrepreneurs, and the new/emerging brands of India across products, services, e-commerce etc. – Bhavik Vasa, GetVantage
It’s the age of the Lady Boss. – Ria Mittal, CAVA
It is time that gender diversity and gender parity get more focused attention from Indian corporations. – Atul Dhawan, Deloitte India
More capital, good founders, and massive consumption are good things to happen. India embraces several opportunities to build sustainable businesses. – Shantanu Deshpande, Bombay Shaving Company
The secondary market in India has really opened up, so an IPO is not the only option (for an exit). – Harsh Shethia, Investcorp India
For a long time, we have been known as a country of great savers but not great investors. – Aditya Agarwal, Wealthy.in
More and more Indians are becoming comfortable with opting for online channels and apps for all their needs, including financial services. – Sachin Bansal, Navi Group
The majority of the people in India, especially non-HNIs, do not get the right, unbiased, and affordable [investment] service. – Anshul Sharan, Elever
If we can teach people to make better financial decisions, that automatically means more money is coming into the financial ecosystem. – Nithin Kamath, Zerodha
This is a good time to be in the insurtech space. – Sanchit Malik, Pazcare
The expansion of digital payments is an important pivot for creating a more equitable, prosperous and financially inclusive India. – Rajiv Kumar, NITI Aayog
Shopping has also become far easier across the globe, and with the evolution of ecommerce, Indian products have become more visible to the global clientele. – Pushkar Shukla, Faballey
The deeper ecommerce penetration and growth in last-mile delivery have catapulted the demand for commercial, road-ready EVs. – Amitabh Saran, Altigreen Propulsion Labs
By 2030, in India, you should see close to 10 million used cars transactions on an annual basis. – Amit Kumar, OLX Autos
D2C is becoming the future of commerce, especially in Tier I and II cities. – Harshil Mathur, Razorpay
Starting from fashion and lifestyle, we are seeing complex categories like larger appliances kick in and bring in [D2C] growth. – Ajith Pai, Delhivery
Social commerce complements ecommerce and will be the biggest enabler for ecommerce growth in India. – Kunal Sinha, GlowRoad
A micro trend we’re noticing is the shift from family consumption to individual consumption. – Varun Alagh, Mamaearth
India, in general, has a very low trust culture, right? So there’s always a little bit of hesitation when you’re trying something for the first time. – Swagat Sarangi, Smytten
Unfortunately, in India, many people still consider art as something you do on the side. – Zahabiya Gabajiwala, ZA Works
For the global customer today, while value is important, they focus more on products rather than the price, which is different from what we see in India. – Shivani Poddar, Vedix
It is time Indian government provided dual citizenship. In another 15 years, exodus to US will gradually come down. – Pranab Pani, Talendeate beyond Border
Private cryptocurrencies or whatever name you call them are a threat to our macroeconomic stability and financial stability. – Shaktikanta Das, RBI Governor
While people [in Europe] want a minimalist skincare routine, consumers in India are happy to follow a seven to ten-step skincare routine. – Gautami Agarwal, SKÖG
Any random pub or restaurant in the UK would have gluten-free marked food options if not an entirely separate menu, which is hardly there in India. – Annika Dhariwal, Gluten Free Jio
It’s great to see India moving in the right direction of becoming a pet-friendly nation, but we still need to put in more effort as a pet community to ensure lasting change. – Yashika Arora, Paw Petisserie
Although in India we were producing and manufacturing premium cotton/muslin, it was majorly for exports and wasn’t available in the Indian market for our own babies. – Surya Prabha, BeeLittle
Now is the time to introduce digital agricultural tools to the hundreds of millions of farmers suffering from a critical lack of basic information services. – Christine Devlin, Jiva
To ensure agriculture contributes more towards the GDP, it is important that 100 percent of farmers use modern farm machinery and agricultural equipment. – KS Bhatia, Pumpkart
The incoming fast 4G mobile rollout in the country will land successes like what’s happened in China, like Taobao, Tmall, and Pinduoduo, or even Tiktok creating conversational social commerce, supported in India’s local languages. – Kevin Wang, Ameba Capital
With video content consumption skyrocketing, especially in Tier II and Tier III cities, video/live commerce will undoubtedly be a major revenue and growth driver for the ecommerce segment this year. – Sushant Puri, ANS Commerce
The vernacular market presents one of the biggest opportunities for any edtech company. It is a large, need-based impact market. – Karanvir Singh, Pariksha
Kabaddi has its own tournaments, but nobody has taken it online or given it the push it needs. – Suhail Chandhok, Kabaddi Adda
YS has also published the pocketbook ‘Proverbs and Quotes for Entrepreneurs: A World of Inspiration for Startups’ as a creative and motivational guide for innovators (downloadable as apps here: Apple, Android).
Edited by Teja Lele Desai
