Launched in 2014, StoryBites is a weekly feature from YS, featuring notable quotable quotes in our articles of this past week (see the previous post here). Share these 30 gems and insights from the week of November 29 – December 5 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.
We believe it is a golden opportunity for SMEs and startups to list where they can grow their business as they get access to all types of funds. – Ajay Thakur, BSE
This [startup] segment needs, on the one hand, self-contained creativity and innovation, but on the other hand, guidance based on the changing needs of the country as it grows. – Ratan Tata
Ideally, the rights enshrined in the Constitution should protect us all. In practice, people with disabilities remain marginalised, excluded, and isolated. – Arman Ali, NCPEDP
There is still a lot of work that needs to be done to eradicate gender-based violence in Uttar Pradesh. The government needs to work on it with extreme diligence and sensitivity only then can we see some real change in mindset. – Jyoti Verma, Parsendi block counsellor
Last year, Rs 70,000 crore worth of rice was exported out of India but a majority of importers didn’t even know from which rice mill they arrived. – Dhanraj Kidiyoor, Pwip
Even though insurance players have opened Tier II and III branches in cities, they have no presence in the rural hinterlands. – Suman Roychoudhury, Digisafe
All the fancy things make a lot of noise but the real volumes come from the hinterlands. – Ankit Chona, Phab
More than 300 million female users have come online in the past three or four years. There are a lot more vernacular consumers who don’t speak English and live in Tier II and Tier III cities. – Anant Vidur Puri, Bessemer Venture Partners
Indian language support makes it easy for D2C businesses to scale users even in regional parts of India through WhatsApp. – Mohit Kumar, BusinessOnBot
A lot of weavers’ families don’t want to continue the same profession as their parents and grandparents. – Viranica Manchu, Label Vida
India’s transition to Electric Mobility System can save Rs 20 lakh crore by 2030 on avoided oil imports alone. – Mahendra Nath Pandey, Heavy Industries Minister
From a global comparison, India is just about close to 20-21cars per thousand people, as compared to developed economies where the number goes as high as 600-650. – Anurag Jain, CarDekho Group
The EV demand has been shooting up across the country, and customers are coming in expecting electric scooters to wow them. – Tarun Mehta, Ather Energy
In the last several years, we have seen the emergence of several new business models just riding on the UPI rails, and hence new unicorns emerging as well. – Anjali Bansal, Avaana Capital
Transactional credit in India is massively under-penetrated, with just 60 million credit cards versus 800 million debit cards. – Aishwarya Jaishankar, Hyperface
The current healthcare spend solutions are scattered and unorganised. It’s a space dominated by savings, informal lending, crowdsourcing, to some extent insurance which creates delay and affordability issues. – Prasanth Madavana, Fedo
It’s time for us to bring product innovations to monetise India’s gold to drive financial inclusion for all. – Japan Doshi, Rupeek
Moving money across borders is still broken, especially if one of the endpoints is an emerging market such as India. – Ashish Agrawal, Sequoia India
International buyers tend to be distrustful of Indian suppliers due to their past experiences with poor quality products, delayed shipments and quality issues. Hence, the verification process is often long-winded, thereby delaying the payment cycle. – Mohammed Shakeel Hizbi, Bluerickshaw
The current premium kids snack market has limited options for allergen friendly and truly healthy snacks. – Radhieka Pandeya and Simer Dhall, Snack-A-Doodle
In addition to the exponential growth in college admission and the wider India edtech market, we are also seeing a rise in integrated solutions for college students across the globe. – Mohamed Mansour, Man Capital
India at present has more than 50 crore learners, which makes the country’s educational market enormous and open for diverse requirements. – Anil Nagar, Adda247
In B2C, now that we have about 15-20 million people [investing] in India, the Indian [crypto] market is priming up for decentralisation. – Nischal Shetty, WazirX
Five years ago, the data annotation market was non-existent in India and the ML ecosystem was fairly unheard of. – Siddharth Mall, Playment by TELUS International
India has a good run on digital transformation and this sets the foundation for the next phase of deep tech where the opportunity is fantastic. – Manoj Kohli, Softbank India
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).
