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Launched in 2014, StoryBites is a weekly feature from YourStory, featuring notable quotable quotes in our articles of this past week (see the previous edition here). Share these 30 gems and insights from the week of September 5-11 with your colleagues and networks, and check back to the original articles for more insights. See our special compilation of quotes related to India’s coronavirus responses here.

While there has been a market slowdown, many D2C brands in general–and in the essential food space–continue to grow. – Chakradhar Gade, Country Delight

Economic growth is here to stay and 60% of our GDP comes from consumer spending. – Dipanjan Basu, Fireside Ventures

The construction industry contributes to over five percent of our GDP. Yet, this is one of the most archaic industries with no proper solution to bridge the various communication gaps. – Abhijeet Kudva, ZippMat

All of us want rocket launches to be much cheaper than what we do today. – S. Somanath, ISRO

Vacation rentals are one of the fastest growing segments in hospitality, where multiple brands have scaled massively across geographies. – Hari Premkumar, DSG Consumer Partners

Of all emerging markets, [India] has the strongest fundamentals in the depth of its entrepreneur base, engineering talent, total addressable market, capital availability, and public market maturity. – Ben Harburg, MSA Novo

Some of the best, most impactful companies will emerge from Southeast Asia and India in the next few years. – Tanuja Rajah, MVP

India’s female workforce participation rate remains the lowest globally and amongst those who make it to the top, over 44% resign due to lack of recognition, growth and opportunities. – Kavitha Thangasami, Exterro

It is very difficult to change a habit, especially in India. There have to be consistent efforts to reduce plastic usage. – Viren Khuller, Global Dent Aids

It’s clear that lack of legacy higher education institutes in Tier II and Tier III cities has made opportunities slim in comparison. – Ashish Munjal, Sunstone

As per SEBI’s recent report, only 27% of India’s population is financially literate, which highlights the need for increased customer support, especially in Tier II and III cities and beyond. – Ankit Khandelwal, GroMo

Currently, digital connectivity infrastructure is skewed towards urban and Tier I states/cities in India, resulting in a huge digital divide. – Subash Vasudevan, iBus Group

The truth is that consumers from non-metro markets can also afford premium products and startups have started realising that they can make for lucrative audiences. – Dipanjan Basu, Fireside Ventures

We have to take our research in the fields of science and technology to the local level. It is the need of the hour for all states to give emphasis on innovation to find local solutions to local problems. – PM Modi

There is no concrete solution to stubble management. Farmers have mere 10 days to clear the waste and prepare the field for the next crop. – Varinder Singh, GFF Innovations

Tier II and III still remain unsolved by private players in this [kidney care] field and by the government. – Prabhat Kumar Srivastava, VitusCare

Members of the LGBTQIA+ community are three to four times as likely to experience serious mental illness. – Anshul Kamath, Evolve

Nobody talks about the mental well-being of a child growing up in the slum. How do you know the child is not suffering from a disability, mental health trauma, or just plain lack of aptitude? – Saloni Bharadwaj, Lotus Petal Foundation

When the protein intake is proper, the cognitive learning is taken care of. – Shruti Saxena, Lotus Petal Foundation

In ayurveda, the balance between the six tastes is something to strive for at every meal. – Deepa Kannan, PFNR

India is far behind in oral care. The industry is still growing and there is immense opportunity to grow. – Viren Khuller, Global Dent Aids

There is a need to build strategic alliances between healthcare organisations and technology providers so that they can come together to realize the full potential of AI-driven healthcare, tech solutions, and really allow for this partnership to thrive. – Nitin Gupta, Suki

With time, technology development, and more active mines, we can overcome the current challenges of production, development, and supply [of EV batteries]. – Pratik Kamdar, Neuron Energy

Mostly an underpenetrated niche in India, Robo Advisory is set to revolutionise financial planning for the common man. – Pranjal Kamra, Finology Ventures

With the advent of 5G, it is important to provide a platform for rising entrepreneurs to disrupt the industry and introduce innovative methods to overcome any challenges the industry currently faces. – Boman Irani, CREDAI

Paying for news is a relatively new phenomenon in India, and there is huge headroom for growth in the market. It’s like the situation where ecommerce was in 2009-10. – Sunny Sen, ConsCent

As one of the world’s most exciting and dynamic startup ecosystems, it is nothing short of fascinating to see the level of pioneering advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) happening in India. – Slavik Dimitrovich, AWS

Revenue-based financing fits perfectly with the festive season capital needs of businesses. – Anurakt Jain, Klub

Indian businesses are anticipated to follow the lead of their international counterparts and provide EMI-based pay later options to aid consumers in making expensive purchases. – Pallav Jain, ShopSe

India has a large faculty pool and we have very strong subject matter expertise specifically in STEM topics. We are seeing that a lot of people (around the world) are seeking that kind of education online. – Mayank Kumar, upGrad

Since opening locally in 2018, India has become home to our fastest-growing R&D site globally, and our doors are now open to talent across all of India. – Mike Cannon-Brookes, Atlassian

Global capability centres are being set out here and real high value work is going out from here to the globe – not just in banking, but in other sectors as well. – Lingraju Sawkar, Kyndryl

YourStory 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).