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 30 gems and insights from the week of February 14-20 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.
Our entire belief till probably five years ago was that we needed the government to solve our problems. Now, entrepreneurs are India’s future. – Rajesh Jain, Netcore Cloud
The next decade for India is monumental. By 2030, India will be one of the most important economies in the world and the founders of today will play a huge role in accelerating this change. – Anu Hariharan, YC Continuity
The government should provide tax advantages to angels to invest in startups. For example, in the US, if a startup has an exit after five years, all capital gains are forgiven. – Shirish Nadkarni, ‘From Startup to Exit’
More than 50 Start-ups are working in the space sector and about 10 of them are having funding of over Rs 50 crore or more individually. – Jitendra Singh, Union Minister for Science and Technology
Content consumption patterns for online education in India have seen a rise in demand for gamified content, live classes, online assessments, high quality resources, better accessibility and innovative methods of learning. – Vijeet Pandey, ClassMonitor
India spends over $90 billion annually in education, however the financial penetration is still very low. – Deepak Ramineedi, WestBridge Capital
Youths from rural areas have limited scope and support to add additional skills for their employability. – Shibashish Sahoo, Cube Highways
If one sees how hyper-competitive India is versus the number of seats, parents seem to have no choice but to send their kids abroad. – Eela Dubey, EduFund India
Handloom means a piece of khadi or silk, or any material that is woven with love. These are materials that have traversed a whole journey. – Aarushi Kilawat, The Loom Art
The Budget 2022 has paved the road for the sector to grow and expand India’s footprint in the global gem and jewellery trade. – Piyush Goyal, Commerce and Industry Minister
Thousands of families in and around Dhanbad rely on coal mining for a living. Even though it’s dangerous, it’s their only source of income. – Deepak Kumar, Nand Care Foundation
There is some hesitation in buying pre-loved goods from strangers, but things are changing. – Freyan Bhujwala, The Share Bear
While India is the largest two-wheeler market in the world, the used two-wheeler market remains fragmented and opaque. – Tarana Lalwani, InnoVen Capital
Pet-parenting is quite a newer phenomenon in India and is still an unorganised sector. – Samriddh Dasgupta, Heads Up For Tails
Hectic work schedules and the rise of nuclear families have, over the years, led to ghee not being made at home anymore. Even if it is, it is made in small portions. – Nitya Ganapathy, Nei Native
An average Indian farmer holds about four acres of land and it becomes very difficult to provide personalised consultative services to the farmer in rural areas both due to lack of reach and non-digital models adopted by companies. – Parag Modi, Kisanwala
Today, for a market this size, it’s not easy to go pan India, even digitally, forget physically. – Sameer Nigam, PhonePe
User empowerment will need to be driven through interoperability and necessary diversity and inclusion as no single app can solve a Billion population’s problems. – Pramod Varma, EkStep Foundation
Mobile commerce is also dominating the ecommerce space, contributing a mammoth 67 percent to the domain’s overall sales in 2021 worth $2.32 trillion. – Priyanka Salot, The Sleep Company
Equality, no bias, democratisation… is what the internet today is all about and India is so well placed. Currently, India is the most democratic version of the mobile internet anywhere in the world. – Abhijit Bose, WhatsApp India
[Kisan Drones] is a new chapter in providing modern farming facilities in the 21st century, and not only will it prove to be a milestone in the development of the drone sector but also open infinite possibilities. – Prime Minister Narendra Modi
Cards are good, but UPI is so much more convenient. – Aman Bhayana, PayCrunch
Even modest metaverse usage could drive a further 37 percent CAGR in the next decade to 20x current data usage. – Credit Suisse report
The country is one of the largest global retail destinations, with the market size set to cross $1.7 trillion by 2025. Moreover, the D2C channels are also growing in sync, expected to be worth over $100 billion by 2025. – Vikas Bagaria, Pee Safe
There is an immense opportunity for the occasion-led buying market in India. – Apoorva Ranjan Sharma, 9Unicorns
A recent study states that almost 70 percent of the millennials in India are ready to pay a premium for a brand if they feel that the brand invests in sustainable practices. – Appadurai A, HP
Women are susceptible to diverse and complex health issues, starting from puberty, and there is a large unmet need in many areas where patients lack information and which require a more liberal, personalised, and empathetic approach to diagnosis and treatment. – Kanika Mayar, Vertex Ventures SEA
The stigma attached to women’s menstrual, sexual, and reproductive health issues, coupled with lack of access to non-judgemental support, have long prevented many women from addressing their healthcare needs. – Achitha Jacob, Proactive For Her
Indian population has now become more health-conscious and the demand for nutrients and micro-nutrients like Vitamins (A, D & C), zinc, folate, and selenium has increased substantially. – George P Joby, TheLifekart.in
Indian consumer so far has been underserved – more than 50 percent of the country needs some form of vision correction, but only one-fourth of them have access to it. – Ramneek Khurana, Lenskart
The penetration of voluntary health insurance in India is less than 10 percent for various reasons like difficulty in understanding the policy, affordability, trust factor, accessibility, and so on. – Mitesh Shah, Inflection Point Ventures
The increasing number of first-time health insurance buyers in the market states that people are looking for comprehensive health solutions and will not hesitate in buying it as long as it brings some real value and is well within their budget. – Aniruddha Sen, Kenko Health
The sustainability of maintaining the ODF (open defecation free) status for rural communities cannot come without strong community ownership. – Zarina Screwvala, Swades Foundation
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).
