Drawn by engineering talent and market size, foreign start-ups make a beeline for India

Foreign start-ups, especially from matured markets like Europe, are making a beeline to India, drawn by the country’s core technical talent and its huge market potential.

To tap this potential, countries like Netherlands are taking steps to make Indian market access easier for their start-ups through partnerships and pilot programmes.

In fact, when Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte visited India on a trade mission recently, start-up collaboration was one of the main items on the agenda.

Indo-Dutch StarupLink, a two-year pilot programme that will help Dutch start-ups gain better market access and find the right Indian partner for collaboration, was launched.

Earlier, the German Indian Start-up Exchange Programme, initiated by the German Start-ups Association and supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, was launched to strengthen and foster German-Indian economic relations in the field of start-ups.

Additionally, in recent times, India has seen an influx of foreign start-ups — such as Rural Spark and Sweep Smart — setting up shop here.

Many more are in the pipeline from countries such as the UK.

According to industry players, the core engineering talent and the innovation in the technology space by Indian start-ups are among the main factors making India attractive.

Laurent Atchekguezian, Associate Partner, TNP India, a French consultancy firm that began operations in India recently, said that a majority of the company’s backend work was happening in India.

“Then we thought, why not set up a base here?” he said. There are 50 people currently working for the firm in Kochi and Mumbai and plans are afoot to increase the employee strength to 100 in the coming years.

Health and energy

There is increasing interest among Dutch start-ups to work or partner with Indian start-ups in the health and energy space to produce cost effective solutions.

In European countries the elderly population is on the rise, resulting in increased healthcare cost, borne by the respective governments.

These countries are looking to work with India to produce cost-effective solutions.

Energy is another area of interest with traction in the renewable energy space. India is also a great market for testing out products, given its diverse demographics and geography.

But there are challenges. Foreign start-ups often lack the means to effectively and efficiently prepare to make a more strategic go/no-go decision. They also do not have access to the right local networks, start-ups, mentors, incubators and opportunities as it takes significant effort and money, which they typically lack.

The start-up initiatives between the Indian government and its foreign counterparts seek to address some of these concerns.

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