YOUTH ENTERPRENEURSHIP IN

INDIA
A PROJECT REPORT

SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE

REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF THE M.COM. DEGREE
OF

MASTER IN COMMERCE
(MANAGEMENT)
SUBMITTED TO
UNIVERSITY OF MUMBAI,
LALA LAJPAT RAI COLLEGE, MAHALAXMI, MUMBAI

SUBMITTED BY
Name of student-shaikh sana University Roll no-15160619

SUPERVISED BY
DR.GITA SHETTY
April 2017

1
 DECLARATION

I, student of LALA LAJPAT RAI COLLEGE OF

COMMERCE AND ECONOMICS of M.COM
(MANAGEMENT), hereby declare that, I have completed
this university project on YOUTH
ENTERPRENEURSHIP IN INDIA during the academic
year 2016-2017.

This information submitted is true and original to the best of

my knowledge.

Student signature

University rollno-15160619

2
 CERTIFICATE

I hereby certify that the work which is being presented in the M.Com
Internal Project Report entitled YOUTH ENTERPRENEURSHIP
IN INDIA , in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the award of
the Master of commerce in Management and submitted to the Lala
Lajpat Rai College of Commerce and Economics ,Mahalaxmi
Mumbai 400034 is an authentic record of my own work carried out
under the supervision of DR.GITA SHETTY. He matter presented in
this Project Report has not been submitted by me for the award of any
other degree elsewhere.

Signature of student:

Signature of Supervisor:

Internal Examiner:

External Examiner:

College stamp Principal

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to place on record my deep sense of gratitude to

prof. DR.NEELAM ARORA, Dept of for his generous
guidance, help and useful suggestions.

I express my sincere gratitude to prof .DR.NEELAM

ARORA, for his stimulating guidance, continuous
encouragement and supervision throughout the course of
present work.

I also wish to extend my thanks to my friends and other

colleagues for attending my seminars and their insightful
comments and constructive suggestions to improve the quality
of this project work.

I am extremely thankful to DR.S.V.LASUNE coordinator and

principal DR.NEELAM ARORA, for providing me
infrastructural facilities and to work in, without which this
work would not have been possible.

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Signature of student

5
 CHAPTER 1:INTRODUCTION

The role that entrepreneurship plays in the socio-economic

development of a country is well acknowledged. As a result, a large
number of programmes to support entrepreneurship to fulfill its
economic and societal roles designed by the governments and
international organizations. However, due to the perception that the
concepts of entrepreneurship and youth entrepreneurship are
interchangeable, youth entrepreneurship remain somewhat
unaddressed in many countries while considerable attention has been
made upon entrepreneurship in general. The problems of
entrepreneurship have been addressed in the same way for different
groups within the population by the use of 'one size fits all' policies
and programmes. Recently, interest in youth entrepreneurship has
been fuelled due to high levels of unemployment amongst young

6
people and as a way to foster employment opportunities or to address
social exclusion. Furthermore, entrepreneurship is seen as a channel
for the talents of many highly educated young people in areas such as
information technology, biotechnology and other modern industries.
Youth entrepreneurship has gained more importance in recent years in
many countries with increased interest in entrepreneurship as a way of
boosting economic competitiveness and promoting regional
development. While youth entrepreneurship is an under-explored field
in academic and policy debates, two main factors account for its
growing attention in developed countries. The first is the increased
number of unemployed young people compared to the rest of the
population; the second is the need for greater competitiveness, and the
accompanying pressures for skills development and entrepreneurship
as a way of addressing the pressures of globalization. In general terms
youth unemployment is connected to: firstly, the difficult transition
from school to work; secondly, the unwillingness of employers to
employ inexperienced workers, and; thirdly, the frequent job changes
by young people in an attempt to find a satisfactory job of India.

Youth is the Future of every nation & inheritors of the earth

tomorrow. This statement stands true in every sense. When a country
has a healthy youth population, you will find the country making
headway in terms of overall development and progress. A country
with high aging population and lower youth population has a lot of
problems to content with that can slow its growth.

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The world today has transited into a Technology Era. Technology
has enabled progress in all fields and all societies. Technological
revolution has changed the face of lives of people bringing healthcare,
information and connectivity to even the most remote areas that were
hereto isolated.

Globalisation has brought countries together and created entire world

market. We are seeing a lot of changes in the international political
map of the world. Countries are beginning to show determination to
move from the old age monarchies and dictatorial regimes towards
democracy.

Progress and challenges go hand in hand. One of the major challenges

faced by most of the countries in the world today is to do with Youth
unemployment. The overall unemployment rate is growing at an
alarming speed. Amongst the unemployed, the unemployment of
youth seems to be alarming. The current global youth population is
estimated to be at 1.5 billion of which 620 million are employable and
ninety percent of this population live in developing countries.
Countries like India and China have a fast increasing youth
population and the rate of unemployment too is rising rapidly. As per
ILOs prediction approximately 660 million youth will be seeking
employment by 2015. The youth unemployment is higher measuring
up to 50-60% in Asia.

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The above figures stand to reveal the fact that Global youth
unemployment could boomerang to become a global crises causing
social and economical impact on all countries besides pushing the
economies and progress backward. Though every government as well
as World Organisations do frame policies and promote schemes as
well as funds to promote youth employment programs, the quantum
of such effort is negligible when compared to the huge numbers.

Governments are focussed on looking at framework and strategies to

creating new jobs and increasing employment rates. However there is
an urgent need for the policy makers to look specifically at the Youth
unemployment and related issues. In some of the countries youth
entrepreneurship is being recognised as a promising alternative and is
being actively promoted by various agencies. If promoted actively,
Youth entrepreneurship can help sustain growing economies; integrate
youth into the workforce besides leading to overall development of
society.

Entrepreneurship in any society is a sign of progress. The IT business

in US has been the bedrock for youth entrepreneurship and created
stars and multi-millionaires in Bill Gates, Steve Jobs to Googles
Sergy Brin and Larry Page and many more. There are similar such
stories in other countries too. However, the need of the day is at
entrepreneurship.

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Working towards Youth Entrepreneurship programs can help solve as
well as avoid a lot of problems that are currently staring at the
countries and pave way for a better future and progressive societies
world over.

Entrepreneurship refers to an individuals ability to turn ideas into

action. It includes creativity, a sense of initiative, innovation and risk-
taking, as well as the ability to plan and manage projects in order to
achieve objectives. The entrepreneurship competence, therefore,
includes transversal skills and attitudes as well as more specialised
knowledge and business skills. In a broad sense, entrepreneurship
should be considered as a mindset that supports everyone in day-to-
day life at home and in society, and provides a foundation for
entrepreneurs establishing a social or commercial activity.
Entrepreneurship is a key competence for lifelong learning, as defined
in the European Framework for Key Competences.

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 CHAPTER 2 : LITERATURE REVIEW
According to Cooper H., the value of any single study derives as
much from how it fits with and expands on previous work as from the
studys intrinsic properties. If some studies seem more significant
than others, it is because the piece of the puzzle they solve or the
puzzle they introduce is extremely important; not because they are
solutions in and of themselves. (Cooper, H., 1998) 6 According to
Dellinger, literature review is characterized by logical flow of ideas;
current and relevant references with consistent, appropriate
referencing style; proper use of terminology; and an unbiased and
comprehensive view of the previous research on the topic. (Dellinger,
A., 2005)

The purpose of the literature review on entrepreneurial development

in rural area is to identify the related facts in the research work that
were determined by other authors through their research in the similar
field of work and to know the outcome of their research. The
literature reviews will throw light on the broad spectrum of
entrepreneurial activities in India and other countries, especially in
rural sector.

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 CHAPTER 3 : PRESENT WORK

Young people creating a local theatre or a school magazine, or

running activities for young refugees, are giving real meaning to the
concept of entrepreneurial learning. The projects in this booklet
illustrate the benefits of stimulating young people and providing them
with the tools, resources or environment to put their ideas into efFect.
Personal development requires the ability to set personal goals, and
the know-how to attain them. This is what entrepreneurial learning for
young people is all about. Alongside finding out how to start a

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business, they acquire practical skills and positive attitudes: greater
awareness of society, a sharpened appetite for active engagement, new
competences and confidence to play a part. Formal qualifcations do
not always help young people when it comes to solving problems,
rising to challenges, assessing opportunities or taking risks. Even
managing a small project can be a real achievement for someone who
has never before faced such a challenge. And opportunities for
networking can open the eyes of young people who lack a wide range
of contacts or the possibility to compare their situation with others.
This is the rationale behind the projects outlined in this booklet. A
sense of initiative and entrepreneurship refers to an individuals
ability to turn ideas into action. It includes creativity, innovation and
risk-taking, as well as the ability to plan and manage projects in order
to achieve objectives. This supports individuals in their everyday lives
at home and in society, and in the workplace. It alerts them to the
context they operate in, and makes them more ready to seize
opportunities.

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 Benefits of being young enterpreneurs

Often the gap between being an employee and being involved in a

start-up seems daunting. Even though you have nurtured a brilliant
idea and might have even developed a prototype, you are not sure if
this opportunity should be pursued especially at a younger age and
earlier point in your career. Although it might seem intimidating to
start your own business, there aremany benefits. Here are five
reasons that should motivate you to taking that leap and becoming an
entrepreneur!

Adventures and networks

Entrepreneurs interact with different people and new environments

every day. They escape the monotony of a 9 to 5 desk job in favor of a

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more exciting schedule. No two days are the same! You also have the
opportunity to network with a large community of motived people,
and develop valuable communication skills while building a network
of contacts.

Risk taking

Entrepreneurs become more accustomed to taking calculated risks,

which will ultimately pay-off in the future. You will not be spoon-fed
success; opportunities are created by taking risks. Being a young
entrepreneur teaches you how to take calculated risks, and helps
develop confidence while overcoming the crippling fear of failure.

Flexibility and freedom

By becoming an entrepreneur at a young age, you quickly learn to be

independent and self-reliant. Entrepreneurs have full control of their
schedule and of their business they are their own boss. There is an
opportunity to expand your skill set by experiencing and performing
the varied roles in a start-up. Self-directed learning is another positive
side-effect.

Making a difference

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Entrepreneurs give back to society. Your start-up could provide the
community with a product or process solution to a specific, existing
problem such as creating an environmentally-conscious product
like Andrew White has done. Entrepreneurs are able to see their
product impacting and improving society that would feel good!

Accessible and Available Support

There are many organizations that support entrepreneurs and their

start-ups in Southern Ontario. For example, the RIC Centre serves the
Peel Region by providing free mentoring, networking, funding, and
entrepreneurial training. There are many opportunities to get funding
as well, such as the Ontario Centres of Excellences SmartStart Seed
Fund, which is designed to assist young entrepreneurs from the age
of 18 to 29 transition their start-ups from product development to
market entry and company building.

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 Importance of Youth Entrepreneurship in
Developing Country

The entrepreneur who is a business leader looks for ideas and puts
them into effect in fostering economic growth and development.
Entrepreneurship is one of the most important input in the economic
development of a country.

The nature of a developing economy is quite different from a

developed economy. The developing economy can be an agricultural
country moving towards the industrialization or it may be the one
where in the industry may be in its infancy lacking advance
technology.

The modern era is an era of changes. The whole world is becoming a

village due to the industrial revolution and fast developing
communication technology. The globalization of industry and
commerce is bringing a vast change in various aspects of life.

Economic development of a country is the outcome of purposeful

human activity. The modern era is an era of changes. The whole world
is becoming a village due to the industrial revolution and fast

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developing communication technology. The globalization of industry
and commerce is bringing a vast change in various aspects of life.

Economic development of a country is the outcome of purposeful

human activity. Economic development is a highly dynamic process
characterized by the pattern of demand shifts, new products are
needed, appear for the production of goods within a country.

A developing country needs entrepreneurs who are competent to

perceive new opportunities and are willing to incur the necessary risk
in exploiting them. A developing economy is required to be brought
out of the vicious circle of low income and poverty. Entrepreneur can
break this vicious circle. Entrepreneurs and helping government can
change a developing economy in developed economy.

Employment Generation

Entrepreneurs not only give employment to the entrepreneur but also

a source of direct and indirect employment for many people in a
country. Unemployment is a chronic problem in most of the
developing and underdeveloped countries. Entrepreneurs play an
effective role in reducing the problem of unemployment in the
country which in turn clears the path towards economic development
of the nation

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Entrepreneurial development is looked at as a vehicle for
employment generation through promotion of small business. India,
being far more developed and forward looking country than some of
the third world countries, can provide lead to entrepreneurial
development activities. However, India can benefit from the well-
documented success experiences of developed countries like USA,
Japan and UK in the field of employment generation and small
business promotion.

Promotes Capital Formation

Entrepreneurs mobilize the idle funds which lead to capital formation.

The funds which are used by entrepreneurs is a mix of their own and
borrowed. This leads to creation of wealth which is very essential for
development of an economy.

Small Business Plan Dynamism

Great dynamism is one of the qualities of the small and medium

enterprises. This quality of dynamism originates in the inherent nature
of the small business. The structure of small and medium enterprises
is less complex than that of large enterprises and therefore facilitates
quicker and smoother communication and decision- making. This
allows for the greater flexibility and mobility of small business
management. Also, small enterprises, more often make it possible for

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owners, who have a stronger entrepreneurial spirit than employed
mangers, to undertake risk and challenges.

Balanced Economic Development

Small business promotion needs relatively low investment and

therefore can be easily undertaken in rural and semi-urban areas. This
in turn creates additional employment in these areas and prevents
migration of people from rural to urban areas. Since majority of the
people are living in the rural areas, therefore, more of our
development efforts should be directed towards this sector. Small
enterprises use local resources and are best suited to rural and
underdeveloped sector

The growth of industries and business in these areas lead to a large

number of public benefits like road transport, health, education,
entertainment, etc Setting up of more industries leads to more
development of backward regions and thereby promotes balanced
regional development.

Innovations in Enterprises

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Business enterprises need to be innovative for survival and better
performance. It is believed that smaller firms have a relatively higher
necessity and capability to innovate. The smaller firms do not face the
constraints imposed by large investment in existing technology. Thus
they are both free and compelled to innovate.

Entrepreneurship development is accelerating the pace of small firms

growth in India. An increased number of small firms are expected to
result in more innovations and make the Indian industry compete in
the international market.

Better standards of living

Entrepreneurs play a vital role in achieving a higher rate of economic

growth. Entrepreneurs are able to produce goods at lower cost and
supply quality goods at lower price to the community according to
their requirements. When the price of the commodes decreases the
consumers get the power to buy more goods for their satisfaction. In
this way they can increase the standard of living of the people.

Self-Reliance

Entrepreneurs are the corner stores of national self-reliance. They help

to manufacture indigenous substitutes to imported products which

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reduce the dependence on foreign countries. There is also a possibility
of exporting goods and services to earn foreign exchange for the
country. Hence, the import substitution and export promotion ensure
economic independence and the country becomes self-reliance.

Facilitates Overall Development:

Entrepreneurs act as catalytic agent for change which results in chain

reaction. Once an enterprise is established, the process of
industrialization is set in motion. This unit will generate demand for
various types of units required by it and there will be so many other
units which require the output of this unit. This leads to overall
development of an area due to increase in demand and setting up of
more and more units. In this way, the entrepreneurs multiply their
entrepreneurial activities, thus creating an environment of enthusiasm
and conveying an impetus for overall development of the area.

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 challenges young entrepreneurs face

1. Being impatient
We live in a time where weve all come to expect a degree of
instantaneousness in our lives which is reflected in the business
world. Investors and business owners want quick results because
thats where profit and growth lie.

The problem young entrepreneurs are faced with when designing

business plans for start ups is that they need to be able to take into
account and forecast growth to a relatively accurate degree, which as
any successful businessman will tell you is of course is never easy.

A significant amount of time is needed to establish a business from

the ground-up a minimum of five years would be ideal as this gives
you the opportunity to lay a sufficient foundation to not only ensure

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your business is successful and raises capital, but that it is also a
sustainable enterprise.

2. Believing that all you need is money

There is a common misconception among young entrepreneurs that
starting a business initially requires a large sum of money. What is not
often understood is that ideas themselves are also valuable, and its
these great ideas that get implemented and eventually result in profits.
While obviously money is needed for a start-up, its the exceptional
idea that really gives it its worth, and the time you invest to develop
it.

3. Going big too soon

Often the smartest way to go about setting up a business venture is to
start small. Young entrepreneurs may find this frustrating and want to
jump in headfirst. However, from my experience, although depending
on the business, allowing the business to develop at a natural pace,
rather than forcing growth, is far better in the long run. By having this
mentality you may be surprised by how quickly the business
organically develops.

4. Raising capital
Although you often need fewer finances than you would think, one of
the biggest challenges for young entrepreneurs is raising capital. Its
common for these entrepreneurs not to have a solid credit history or

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any valuable assets to use for security. In this case, partnering up with
people and combining finances will help, as well as implementing
ideas like shareholding. This is also where starting small really makes
a difference. If you have a plan that is too unrealistic and you cant
secure enough capital, it will most likely end up falling flat.

Having a strong business plan will enable you to approach banks and
lenders with a higher chance of being approved for loans. Its also
important to be constantly seeking new ways of raising capital and to
always have a Plan B.

5. Having an unwillingness to learn

Many of todays young entrepreneurs arent open to learning and
expanding their minds, and as a result, they are closing themselves off
from invaluable information and advice that can help them become
successful. Conducting research on industry trends, attending
seminars, and talking to industry professionals is the best way to
understand what the current and past challenges are in business, and
how people overcome these problems.

It is here where mentoring becomes key; finding the right mentor will
help overcome any barriers that a person has to learn. Having a
mentor opens doors to new methods, skills, and opportunities, by
learning from others who have succeeded before them.

6. Fearing debt

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For a young entrepreneur, the thought of having substantial debt,
whether with the bank or an alternative lender, can be quite daunting.
There is also a negative stigma around borrowing money which I
believe to be completely false. If you have a strong business idea and
a solid business plan to make it successful and profitable, borrowing
money is perfectly acceptable.

7. Not perfecting your communication skills

When you are running a business, your communication skills are
undoubtedly tied to the success of the business, particularly if you
become the face of the business. If this is the case, knowing how to
speak with confidence is an absolute must. As a representative of the
business, youll be constantly communicating with people, whether it
be selling, negotiating or networking, so your people skills need to be
of a high standard. If you dont naturally possess these abilities,
complete a sales, network marketing or public speaking course to
build your confidence and skills so your business become more
profitable.

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Causes for lack of entrepreneur skills in youth

No social security measure:

there are any social security measures in India. Parents want their
children to go for stable employment so that there will not be any
problem either for their children or for themselves in future. This
prevents the youth from trying and experiment the unexplored areas
of entrepreneur and their ambitions lie untried and untested.

Education system in India:

The present educational system encourages cramming and only for

the examination sake. Mind and energy are not used on creativity and
practical application of knowledge. Experimenting and research are
given minimum priority for young students of HEIs in India.

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Fear of failure

The youth are more worried about the fear of failure. They are more
concerned about their failure rather on their success and it inhibits
their entrepreneurship zeal and enthusiasm. They are more concerned
about the society rather than on themselves. As in entrepreneurship
risk taking is a major factor and failure is always around. Failure is
always the gap between the expectation and the reality. When the
outcome is against our predictions despite put their sincere efforts and
energies then it is termed as failure

Fear of criticism

The youth are also very skeptical about criticism. They are not ready
to accept criticism and take itto their stride; rather they are much
bothered about it and become overcautious about everything. Facing
failure and criticism is the most challenging task for any human
being. Everyone loves success and hates failure. This is inherent in
the human nature. Is it possible to achieve success without failure? Of
course, it is not possible.

Mind set:

In India the youth are having the mindset of job seekers rather than a
job creator. The basic criteria for joining a HEI by a student in India is
to see that finally after completing the course of study they land up
with a job with very handsome salary package. They join a institution
for getting a good job rather than learning exposure available

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Missing leadership quality:

Leadership quality is seen missing among youth in India. Most of

them like to be a follower of others rather than leading from front.
Leadership skills and entrepreneur skills have interconnectivity. Lack
of leadership qualities among the youth is the cause for concern in our
country.

CASE STUDY

Bhavish Aggarwal

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The 29 year old IITB Grad Bhavish Aggarwal is the founder &
CEO of Indias most popular Cab Aggregator OlaCabs.
OlaCabs, more popularly known as Ola, is just like any other
marketplaces online, but more specifically into providing Taxi
services. Ola, which started as an online cab aggregator in Mumbai,
now resides in the Silicon Valley of India a.k.a. Bangalore, and is also
known to be one of the fastest growing businesses in India, out-
beating its competitors Uber & Meru.
Coming back to the man behind Ola; simple yet charming Bhavish,
with the success of his prodigy has certainly become the talk of the
town. But even after becoming a millionaire, he still prefers to not
buy a car and take a cab (to set an example, we presume), certainly
doesnt goes down well with his wife. He believes that, such is a
small price that every entrepreneur has to pay.
Anyways, when not crushing his competitors, one can catch Bhavish
cycling, playing squash or doing what he loves the most
photography. He also maintains a largely popular photoblog!

LIFE BEFORE OLA

Born in Ludhiana, Bhavish just like every other success-driven and

successful entrepreneur, began at a very early age. Soon after he
completed his Bachelors in Technology (Computer Science and

30
Engineering) from IIT B in 2008, he started his career with
Microsoft Research India as a Research Intern and later got reinstated
as an Assistant Researcher.
During his more than two years of stint with Microsoft, Bhavish
managed to file two patents and also got three papers published in the
international journals.
Now what many arent aware is that, while he was at it, he had also
turned into a blogger and had founded his own prodigy called
desitech.in. Desitech was all about hosting content which was mainly
focused at technologies which again were inclined towards the Indian
scenario. This content was a collection of start-ups in India, events
and / or any other exclusive news.
Anyways, during this same time, he took the biggest decision of his
life and turned his personal pain-point into his first entrepreneurial
venture!

THE WILD CHRONICLES OF OLA

So this is how it all began!

After quitting Microsoft, Bhavish started an online company which
dealt into selling of short duration tours and holidays online.
Now while he was at it, he happened to rent a car from Bangalore to
Bandipur and had a lasting bad experience.

31
The driver of that car stopped right in the middle of the road and
started re-negotiating the while deal. When Bhavish refused to agree
to his terms, the driver proceeded to abandon him en route his
destination.
The entrepreneurial-headed Bhavish, instead of whining about the
situation or rather the problem, decided to solve it good, and at large!

THE FORMATION

Because he got a first-hand experience of such a problem, after decent

amount of research also realised that, this in actuality was a genuine
and deep rooted problem for the masses. A lot of customers had fallen
prey to such situations and were desperately in need of a quality cab
service.
That was when for the first time, he could vision the amount of
potential a cab booking service could have. And after basic
calculations, Bhavish changed his business from the earlier mentioned
start-up to OlaCabs.
Ola was the collective prodigy of Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati
and was officially owned by ANI Technologies Pvt Ltd, which
translated to Hello in Spanish!

32
THE CHANGE

This change including the entrance of Ankit Bhati was brought about
somewhere around December 2010.
His solution was simply introducing a technology that bridged the gap
and connected the cab owners with the commuters through the
Internet, telephone or a mobile phone app.
On the other end, just like every starting entrepreneur, his parents too
didnt support his new venture as well, and for them he was as good
as a travel agent. Basically a lot of pressure.
But nevertheless, their support increased as they got their first round
of angel investment (from Snapdeal founder Kunal Bahl, Rehan yar
Khan and Anupam Mittal.).
Moving on, Bhavishs believed that anyone can have a good business
idea but to function it successfully one must a scalable models upon
which the business runs. According to him, the best or one of the best
& safest model one can or should adopt is running a business with
owning zero inventory.
And following his own words, Ola, didnt buy even a single car and
instead rented them.
They went on to partner with a long range of Taxi Drivers, and all he
did was added a touch of modern technology to the whole thing
through which consumers could book cars at a short notice via their
call centers or via their app.

33
THE STRATEGY

Simply putting it, their strategy was to leave no stone unturned; be it

attending customer calls to driving a passenger to the airport while
managing the operations, they did everything.
And on the other end, to woo the drivers, they used an equally unique
strategy!
For the first few months, they used to pay drivers 5000/day tips + no
salary. Provided they met the criteria which was that, a Driver must
have completed one single trip for that given day. To add to that, the
Integration Devices which they use were provided free of cost!
During that time, with a rough potential monthly income of 1.5Lakhs
literally every driver, even including many part-timers did anything to
get themselves attached with Ola.

34
As their motive was fulfilled, later this payment module was reduced
to half i.e. 2500/day and then 750/day tips + salary consecutively. And
now the tips would be provided only if they covered minimum 10
trips in a day.
Now clearly, the idea of cabs was not new to the Indian market, and
there already were players like Fasttrack who had established
themselves. There were radio Taxi services in city of the country
which used to run in the interiors as well, and you could easily find
some of every them at the airports and railway stations. Not to forget
the car rentals and travel agencies. Basically, all of these had more or
less a focus which was on similar lines.

So what made Bhavish or Ola One-up?

Bhavish very smartly had taken only cars which had an All India
permit (similar to travel agencies) and used to run them both inside as
well as outside the city. And then there were the unique and budgeted
plans which they used to offer, to lure the customers.
But more than all that or what at least on an equal note, what helped
them was M-commerce (mobile). Bhavish could clearly see that, M-
commerce was growing at the speed of light and would only get better
in the times to come.
Hence, given this environment, it would only become far more easier
for the consumer to knowledge or data without much of a hassle,
merely through their Smartphone. And with the amount of

35
connectivity this would create would only increase the convenience
for the masses.
Bhavish decided to capitalise on this untouched factor, and took the
leverage of this growing industry.

THE PRESENT GROWTH

And with the help of such ahead of its time & long term strategies, the
company began to grow at the speed of light.
By 2014, the company was now pocketing a network of more than
200,000 cars across 100 cities. Additionally, it was also clocking an
average of more than 150,000 bookings per day and also was now
sitting on 60% of the market share in India.
Soon the company also brought about some huge developments which
again, benefited them greatly. Some of these included:
They launched their Ola Mini service in Bangalore & consecutively in
Delhi (NCR) with a fleet over 250 cars and were also in preparations
to grow to 800 by 2015. Their offer again was pretty unique and
luring. They had started with a introductory price of Rs12/km with a
base price of Rs.150 for the first six kilometres, making them the
cheapest AC cab services availNext, by the end of the year, Ola also
expanded to incorporate autos in Bangalore and also expanded this
service to other cities like Delhi, Pune and Chennai.

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Later, they announced their biggest news so far. OlaCabs bought
TaxiForSure or TFS in March 2015 for about $200 million. Although,
this wasnt their initial plan. Their initial purpose was to fill in their
huge requirement of drivers and hence, they had first tried to attract
their drivers by paying them some Initial Bonus + Attachment
Devices Free of Cost, but since they failed, they had to buy the
company to maintain their stable growth.
Additionally, Ola who so far only had worked with Drivers, had now
also begun working with the cab operators after the acquisition.
With this acquisition in place; they also launched Cashless Rides
which not only worked with the cabs on their network, but was also
extended to Auto rickshaws and Kaali-Peeli taxis

And lastly, Ola recently has launched Ola Cafe. In simple terms,
through this service one can order food, grocery, vegetables etc., and
get it delivered to their households.

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 And when you look at Ola today, it has gone on to become Indias
most popular mobile app for cab booking, out-beating their
competitors like Uber. To add to that, they are also the largest
platform with 40,000+ cars across almost 100 cities (2015) and
growing.
Talking about their funding; Ola has raised a total of $676.8 Million
so far from investors like SoftBank, ABG Capital, Accel Partners,
Mauritius Investments, Tiger Global Management, Matrix Partners,
Steadview Capital, Sequoia Capital and DST Global. Their current
valuation is roughly $3.5 Billion.

THE ACHIEVEMENTS

Received the mBillionth award South Asia 2013

Awarded as the Best start-up of the year by IAMAI,

Received the HATT awards

Listed in 30 under 30, by Hindustan Times and Forbes.

38


39
 Sabina Chopra

The case study is of Yatra.com which has really made a mark in the
past few years.

The need for calling PR Consultancy by yatra.com is the tight

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competition while they were entering the market was
makemytrip.com. Makemytrip.com was leading at the time of its
entrance and was well established. At that time the online travel
company was at its nascent stage. Makemytrip.com had already
established as a pioneer in the industry. Initially yatra.com has faced
little difficulty but later has proven itself and after yatra.com came
into existence several other online travel companies like cleartrip.com
and tarvelguru.com mushroomed because of which yatra.com at its
initial faced tough competition from the other companies at the same
space.

As far as Indian scenario is concerned most of the travel related

transactions are done through offline agents that are why the online
companies face a tough time and take little extra time to establish
themselves. The major reason behind the offline transactions were the
doubt on the authenticity and credibility of the online travel
companies. Another doubt which prevailed in peoples mind was that
how fruitful and also how safe is to disclose the details of the credit or
debit card.

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About Yatra.Com:

Yatra.com is India's leading travel services company. It helps

consumers book air tickets, hotel rooms; holiday packages both for
Domestic and International destinations. Bookings at yatra.com can
be made by logging on to the website, calling the 24x7 customer care
center or walking into any of the yatra.com Holiday Lounges
across India. Yatra.com is backed by some of the world's most reputed
companies - Reliance ADA Group, Network 18, Norwest Venture
Partners and Intel Capital.

Yatra.com is born to address the needs of tourists looking for a one

stop solution from where they can plan their travel to any destination

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in India. Yatra.coms main objective is to help the traveler in planning
a fascinating tour of India from the convenience of his/her own home.
Any and every travel related information is available at Yatra.com.
Here you will get information on not only major cities but also on
smaller cities as well. Detailed information on tourist places both
renowned and exotic will help you plan your tour better.

The Task:

Avian Media played an important role; here Avians task was to build
the credibility for both the yatra.com and the online industry also.
Yatra.com needed a strong PR effort to come with a bang
and build the brand YATRA in India. Putting this all together the
main motive was to create awareness about the online travel industry
and specially yatra.com, and to also built a trust for yatra.com in
domestic travel market and also to develop a national PR strategy.

Strategy:

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 The communication and the marketing strategies taken by the Avian
Media covered 21 cities across India and it undertook the exhaustive
media relation in those 21 cities.
Another focus of yatra.com was to provide different and attractive
product offers. They were also focusing and highlighting the
innovative technology and the strong financial back up of yatra.com.

As they had a lot strategies for giving them a prominent grip in the
market so they proactively initiated the industry stories in the target
media to build the credibility of the online travel industry.

Avian Media helped them building the profile of the company

through various media channels and industry speakership
opportunities.

Through initiating corporate growth stories showcasing yatra.com as

the fastest growing online travel company.

These were the few points which were included in the strategies for
yatra.com.

Result:

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After all these efforts the position of yatra.com is clear in the current
scenario. Yatra.com has proven itself in the past few days. Yatra.com
made a successful entry in the online travel market with immediate
visibility in 21 key cities without spending much on advertising. With
a turnover of $118 million in the very first year, Yatra.com had
become the fastest growing travel portal. From December 06
December 07 Yatra.com got PR mileage of Rs. 12, 54, 46,033. The
brand values enhanced great technology and exclusivity. Within 1.5
years Yatra.com has a market share of 30%.

Who started it Mr. Dhruv Shringi,Co-Founder

Mr. Manish Amin,Co-Founder
Ms. Sabina Chopra,Co-Founder and Executive Vice President of
Operations
Yatra.com was established in 2006 by some of few travel industry
leaders.
About them

Yatra.com is Indias leading travel services company. It helps

consumers book air tickets, hotel rooms, holiday packages both for
Domestic and International destinations. Bookings at yatra.com can
be made by logging on to the website, calling the 247 customer care
center or walking into any of the yatra.com Holiday Lounges

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acrossIndia.
Yatra online is a travel company providing information, pricing,
availability and booking facility for air travel, hotels, buses and car
rentals across 5000 large cities and small rural areas around the globe.
As an online travel company, Yatra.com acts as a complete tour
planner for travelers and is a one-stop shop for every travel need.
Funding -- $17M in Unattributed funding, Investors
Employees 700
Why they are successful The Company achieved a turnover of
$120 million in the year 2007 and projects a turnover of US $ 220
million by the end of calendar year 2008

Challenges
Yatra.com is one of Indias leading online travel portals that offers end
to end tour plans and individual services like air travel bookings, hotel
reservations and car/bus rentals. The site provides travelers with over
5000 destinations across India. It provides hotel reservation functions
to over 2500 hotels across 250 Indian destinations in addition to
access to over 90,000 hotels across the globe through international tie
ups. Yatra.com has 80,000 visitors and on an average makes 6500 air
travel booking and over 300 hotel room night reservation everyday.
With such high transactional loads focused solely on the sites IT
capabilities, it became vital that infrastructure is managed
professionally by a partner who can not only provide 24/7 site uptime

46
but also be able to cope with sudden increases in load during peak
times. The bottom line was to have the site up and running all the
time, without a glitch.

Solution
After evaluating its options, Yatra.com chose Netmagic Solutions,
reputed for providing industry leading IT infrastructure services, as its
IT partner. Netmagic Solutions tie up with multiple ISP provided
eradicated the risk of hosting the service with a sole internet provider.
Netmagic enabled Yatra.com to have around the lock uptime and
flexible bandwidth. It also put an effective disaster recovery plan in
place in addition to 24/7 back up and support t enable functioning of
mission critical functions even during times of disaster.

Benefits
Netmagic Solutions industry leading IT Infrastructure and Hosting
services eliminated the risks involved in hosting a high volume and
complex site like Yatra.com on a single internet service provider.
Netmagic lived up to its market repute of providing 24/7 uptime and
high levels of scalability to its client when it seamlessly
accommodated sudden increases in transaction loads as it did during
Yatra.coms 777 promotion. Netmagic Solutions robust Disaster
Recovery Plans and around the lock support and back up services
keep the Yatra.com site and mission critical functions up and running,
even during times of disaster like the Mumbai floods of 2005. With a

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reliable and dependable IT partner like Netmagic Solutions to manage
and power its IT dependencies, Yatra.com now focuses precious
resources, including human capital, towards core businesses.

SUMMARY

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Youth is the Future of every nation & inheritors of the earth
tomorrow. This statement stands true in every sense. When a country
has a healthy youth population, you will find the country making
headway in terms of overall development and progress. A country
with high aging population and lower youth population has a lot of
problems to content with that can slow its growth.

The world today has transited into a Technology Era. Technology

has enabled progress in all fields and all societies. Technological
revolution has changed the face of lives of people bringing healthcare,
information and connectivity to even the most remote areas that were
hereto isolated.

Globalisation has brought countries together and created entire world

market. We are seeing a lot of changes in the international political
map of the world. Countries are beginning to show determination to
move from the old age monarchies and dictatorial regimes towards
democracy.

Governments are focussed on looking at framework and strategies to

creating new jobs and increasing employment rates. However there is
an urgent need for the policy makers to look specifically at the Youth
unemployment and related issues. In some of the countries youth
entrepreneurship is being recognised as a promising alternative and is
being actively promoted by various agencies. If promoted actively,
Youth entrepreneurship can help sustain growing economies; integrate

49
youth into the workforce besides leading to overall development of
society.

Entrepreneurship in any society is a sign of progress. The IT business

in US has been the bedrock for youth entrepreneurship and created
stars and multi-millionaires in Bill Gates, Steve Jobs to Googles
Sergy Brin and Larry Page and many more. There are similar such
stories in other countries too. However, the need of the day is to create
many more stars and make available the opportunities for every youth
to dream big and try their hands at entrepreneurship.

Youth entrepreneurship has an impact on social as well as cultural and

economic progress of the society. Building an environment that
promotes creatively and provides opportunities for entrepreneurship
calls for multi pronged strategies implementation and involvement at
all levels including Government, industry, political, social as well as
educational sectors.

Working towards Youth Entrepreneurship programs can help solve as

well as avoid a lot of problems that are currently staring at the
countries and pave way for a better future and progressive societies
world over.

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 CONCLUSION
A recent study on entrepreneurship in India by Gallup states that India
has abundant entrepreneurial talent, but, Indians lack in risk taking.
Building entrepreneurial culture is a long term prescription. This can
happen when academia and Government work with business to start
bringing local entrepreneurs into classrooms.

Entrepreneurship is usually associated with new ideas, new ventures,

disruptive technologies, quick prosperity of entrepreneurs and hence,
people believe that there should be a strong link with economic
growth. Essentially there are three main elements of entrepreneurship
an innovative idea , risk taking behavior of people and perception
of presence of economic opportunities that can be exploited.

To do this, India needs to introduce innovation and entrepreneurship

courses that will allows process of inquiry and risk taking. The
curriculum should take care to build students competence, confidence,
courage and passion for the inventiveness and teach them to put
theory into action.

Every university in India must have a Centre for Entrepreneurship.

These centres should identify and recognise local entrepreneur role
models and involve them in educating people. University professors
must open up their guards to actively engage with local small business

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community. University level business and technology incubators
should be in a position to crack this code. Provided these incubators
are run like a business. This can happen only when we create a pool
of teachers who could teach entrepreneurship. America has an
excellent system of Network For Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE)
which could provide us the framework.

A time-bound, purposeful policy with clear near term, medium term

and long term goals shall go a long way in building entrepreneurial
ecosystem in India.

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