‘Every biz should ideally include start-ups as an integral part of their business plan’

Kris Gopalakrishnan, Chairman, Axilor Ventures Private Ltd & Co-Founder, Infosys Ltd on Tuesday said that while India has evolved a good ecosystem for start-ups but they are restricted to a few locations.

In order to be able to build “unique start-ups” not only does the strength of each State needs to be leveraged but the linkages between business leaders, incubation centres and academic institutions need to be strengthened, he said while speaking at the 7th edition of Innovation 2021 organized by CII virtually on Tuesday.

According to him, CII should bring out a whitepaper and share with the States of the eastern region which can focus on the types of start-ups that can flourish specific to a State’s strength. Mapping of incubators, start-ups and how they can be scaled up should also be focussed. He also advised to create a pool of successful local start-ups for young and new ones to emulate.

“In an economy, existing businesses recede over time and new ones become the growth engines and help in wealth creation. Every business has to make a roadmap for the future and they should ideally include start-ups as an integral part of their business plan which would help start-ups too,” he said.

He also called for more inflow of domestic capital to fund start-ups as a majority of the start-up funding currently come from foreign investments and the returns also go to foreign lands.

Corporates have started removing boundaries between continuous improvement and innovation and are also using the growing ecosystem of start-ups for organizational innovations, Arun Misra, CEO & Whole Time Director, Hindustan Zinc Ltd said. He further added that innovations came when there were “sparks in the society” and sustainability goal is the new spark which is generating new, unique ideas and holds promise for the future.

‘Currency of 21st century’

According to Abhijit Roy, Managing Director & CEO, Berger Paints India Ltd, innovation is being increasingly seen as the “currency of 21st century” and the need of the hour is to convert knowledge into social good.

The country would need innovation, which is beyond competitive index and is environmentally sustainable. The innovation network in the country need to include upper level management for funding purposes and at the same time, corporates need to cultivate the innovation and start-up ecosystem to utilize their abilities and out-of-the-box thinking to strengthen their own products and customer satisfaction.

In order to be able to grow smartly and sustainably, industry needs to adopt innovative approach and create a sustainable ecosystem for not only a positive societal impact but also to have a competitive advantage, Debasish Banerjee, Managing Director (Distribution), CESC Ltd said. He also called for leveraging disruptive technologies to build sustainable business.