StartUp Expo

Indian Startup revolution knows no barriers. Crossing over the divides of rural-urban, big metros-small towns, nascent ideas are germinating across the length and breadth of the country. A Startup-Expo being organized in Gurgaon this weekend by Lufthansa Airlines and The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE), received nearly 20 percent applications from smaller towns.

There were some 34,000 application submissions; one-fifth, out of which came from towns like Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Ahmadabad, Hyderabad and states like Rajasthan and Kerala. According to the German airlines partnering the project, this is the highest-ever participation from smaller towns in India. Among the big cities, Delhi had the maximum number of applications at 18,693 followed by Chennai at 8960.

Startup Expo, that was conceived last October, is expected to see big participation from women entrepreneurs, social entrepreneurs, student entrepreneurs, service providers, and technology and food entrepreneurs.

Geetika Dayal, executive director, TiE Delhi-NCR, told ET that "It was a conscious decision to focus this expo on smaller cities, women, youth and startup companies that can bring social impact."

Lufthansa also shared a similar sentiment and said that the focus of this startup expo was to reach the interiors of India and give them representation. "There are a lot of entrepreneurship abilities even in smaller cities and towns in India but they rarely get a platform. With this initiative, we are providing an opportunity to them as well," said Wolfgang Will, director South Asia at Lufthansa.

Some key participants expected at the expo include business experts like Sanjeev Bikhchandani, vice chairman at Naukri.com. Deep Kalra, founder and group CEO at Make My Trip India Pvt Ltd. Alok Mittal, founder of Indifi Technologies, and O P Manchanda, CEO at Dr Lal Path Labs Pvt Ltd.

The expo is happening in the backdrop of Prime Minister’s ‘Startup India’ plan and has the support of the department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP), which is the nodal ministry for the Startup India initiative.

According to a recent report, India is the third largest base for startups in the world with over 3,000 startups registered in the country and over 800 coming up annually. By 2020, India is expected to be a home to 11,500 startups, employing over 250,000 people.