Starting a business? India happens to have become the most-preferred destination in the world to do so, if one goes by the number of people searching for the best place to set up shop.

A study conducted by SEMrush, an online digital marketing suite, revealed that India leads the Top 10 globally most searched countries online for ‘starting business in’. The study has established the fact that India is not just a preferred choice for Indians to do business in their homeland, but is also becoming a priority for SMEs from across the world, according to a company official.

Rohan Ayyar, Regional Marketing Manager India, SEMrush, says the number of SMEs in India is 4.25 crore, registered and unregistered, with over 10 per cent average growth rate. He was quoting a report by EVOMA. “The GDP contribution by SMEs is estimated to be around 6.11 per cent from the manufacturing and 24.63 per cent from the service sectors,” he said. SEMrush analysed the global search pattern for the last 12 months and looked for certain key search terms such as ‘how to start a company in’, ‘opening business in’, ‘found a business in’ and other related search queries.

The study showed India is followed by Singapore, the Philippines and Australia as top globally searched nations.

Though Singapore is famous for its wide entrepreneurial opportunities, and the National University of Singapore, the oldest and the largest university in the country, ranks in the global Top 30 for its entrepreneurship centre and international outlook, the nation was at second spot, according to the SEMrush study. Ayyar said unemployment rate of 2.1 per cent and per capita GDP of nearly $53,000 tend to make Singapore’s economy one of the strongest on the world arena, and almost 99 per cent of it is powered by SMEs. It is no surprise that Singapore tops the list of countries where people are eager to found a firm, he said.

Ayyar added the results of search queries analyses over 2017-18 were greatly commemorative. “The search volumes for India were much higher in comparison with countries such as Australia, Canada and the UAE. The developments in PPP model and progressive policies and plans have further helped start-ups and businesses to grow, giving a great boost to SMEs.”

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