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Global Thought Leadership:

Developing a start-up ecosystem

27 September 2019

Our report reviews the UK ecosystem, and builds further on the earlier FICCI Report of 2017, as a welcome step in deepening the understanding of all the key movers and shakers of the UK start-up and innovation system.

To establish a successful ecosystem in the backdrop of economic uncertainty, political tensions and government budget constraints requires a commitment not only from successive governments but from other enablers in the ecosystem. The UK and India have a strong heritage of doing business together and the two countries share mutual strengths in technology and knowledge-based businesses. As India looks to climb in global ease of doing business rankings and the UK looks east to new markets, trade and investment opportunities are immense.

India boasts an abundance of early-stage start-ups; entrepreneurs come up with innovative ideas, set up enterprises and approach their local economies with bold enthusiasm. And yet, there is an undeniable pattern in the growth process. Start-ups tend to experience a degree of growth early on, plateau towards the middle and either remain on steady domestic footing or meet an untimely death. They have trouble expanding internationally, as the Indian market can be fragmented and often proves a legislative challenge that very few start-ups have the resources to manage.

Suggestions to policymakers in India would be to foster an enabling environment, to breed a culture of innovation at the core. Our recommendations therefore are framed as ones which could, if implemented within a stipulated timeframe, could propel the start-up economy in India forward.