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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 25 gems and insights from the week of May 16-22 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.

India has 739 districts, and over 85 percent of them have a startup that is registered with the government. – Deepak Bagla, Invest India

These are exciting times for India as we take the centre stage to become one of the largest and most diverse content hubs in the world. – Aditi Shrivastava, Pocket Aces

The overall retail market in India is set to cross the $1.75 trillion mark by 2026, and is set to grow at a CAGR of 30 percent for gross merchandise value worth $200 billion by 2026. – Invest India

New-age consumers do not just want to buy things that work well but also want aesthetic products which are elegant. It is not just about functionality or robustness anymore. – Sachin Parikh, Pratech Brands

People from small towns are looking for the same experiences as people living in cities because they are exposed to the same media today. – Neeraj Menta, SuperK

If they (SMBs) are not growing, India cannot grow. – Karan Adani, APSEZ

Investing in fan tokens and phygital collectibles is becoming increasingly popular in India, especially among the younger generation who are more interested in investing where their interest lies. – Siddharth Jaiswal, Sportzchain

The [virtual astrology and spirituality] space is extremely unorganised, and the market is big enough for all players to carve out their niche. – Manu Jain, VAMA

This [crystal-assisted treatment] sector is largely unorganised, and below par quality products are being sold in the market at very high prices. – Japneet Singh, Indian Crystal Company

Just as ecommerce and fintech have seen a huge rise, we believe that TourismTech will be a strong sector that will see immense growth over the next five years, given the fact that responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism is the global need of the hour. – DS Prashant and Thejus Joseph, FiiRE

Per capita paint consumption in India is less than one-third of the global average. – Rajiv Rajgopal, AkzoNobel

Market awareness for energy-efficient passive cooling solutions is still in the nascent stage and hence there is still a huge scope for the players in the domestic market. – Soumalya Mukherjee, Tan90

Handlooms require very little resources and have a minimal carbon footprint as compared to fast fashion. – Mridula Tangirala, Tata Trusts

Activewear is a huge category. There is performance and then there is athleisure. It is a $9 billion industry in India and is estimated to grow to $25 billion in the next five years. – Krishna Chandak, TEGO

Most activewear brands in the country are largely focussed on men, leaving very limited options designed specifically for Indian women. – Minu Margeret, BlissClub

Today there is a perfect storm in the eyewear industry that makes it ripe for disruption. – Bjorn Bergstrom

Traditional edutech companies across India continue to be limited to their region, i.e., a radius of 300-500 kilometres because they lack the funds for better reach. – Pankaj Makkar, Bertelsmann India Investments

Asian cuisine is the second-most loved cuisine in India. – Sidhanth Madan, MasterChow

It’s time we learn back the full circle of our food history and practices. – Pallavi Gupta, Nutty Yogi

The introduction of the Indian Digital Ecosystem of Agriculture (IDEA) is also moving the industry towards transparency and traceability. – Ananda Verma, Fasal

In India, modern retail and general trade are not designed to offer adequate shelf space and distribution for frozen food as a category. As a result, the industry has not matured and grown to its full potential. – Mira Jhala, FroGo

While MNCs are turning to India for setting up their R&D centres, Indian brands themselves have failed to keep pace and step up their R&D activities. – Arjun Bajaaj, Daiwa

India is the second-largest technology hub for Amazon globally with some of the most talented people. – Dave Clark, Amazon

We look forward to scaling our India team rapidly; it will play an important role in bolstering our core R&D team, our business growth and global expansion. – Tim Zheng, Apollo.io

The demand (for Indian products) is very good because the products are great. – Eric Broussard, Amazon

India will see a lot of digital adoption in the coming 10 years. We see that the credit card industry will also grow with a 20 percent CAGR. – Mayank Markanday, AU Small Finance Bank

Thanks to the active startup ecosystem, a lot of payments companies in India have come up which has led to a lot of innovation. – Ramesh Narasimhan, Worldline India

If a brand is able to handle the complexity around payments, there is increased trust. – Archana Doshi, Archana’s Kitchen

45 percent of our customers prefer to make purchases with BNPL options even if they have a credit card owing to the convenience that BNPL provides. – Dheeraj Aneja, Flipkart

The Indian fintech market is worth $31 billion and is only behind China and USA. With over 6,000 fintech startups in the country today, the sector might also emerge as the key industry for job seekers, creating job opportunities, aided by central and state governments. – Anish Achuthan, Open

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).