Abstract

COVID-19 has adversely impacted the overall investment sector. While businesses across all sectors can sense the repercussions of COVID-19, start-ups have particularly been one of the most vulnerable, and in fact, are facing various formidable challenges both, from a business as well as from an operations' perspective. Most start-ups have witnessed a decline in supply and or demand, except for those start-ups that are engaged in the supply and, or delivery of 'essential services', educational technology, gaming or streaming services. Notwithstanding the above, glitches in the supply chain network have either way presented challenges for all start-ups. However, the start-up ecosystem has been continuously striving to adapt to the present situation as flexibly as possible, by focusing on the need to innovate and diversify their business techniques and its operations. Startup India is a Government of India flagship initiative to build startups and nurture innovation. Through this initiative, the Government plans to empower startup ventures to boost entrepreneurship, economic growth and employment across India. India’s startup eco-system has become a talking point for the entire world. With hundreds of innovative youngsters choosing to pursue the path of entrepreneurship instead of joining the multinational corporations and government ventures, the business world has witnessed an explosion of ground-breaking startups providing solutions to the real problems at a mass level in the past years. In the past couple of years, the start-up ecosystem in India has emerged as a reckoning force, largely attributable to the efforts of the stakeholders, and the initiatives implemented by the government to facilitate the growth of the start-ups. Investments in start-ups have dramatically surged to $14.5 billion in 2019 from the previously $550 million in 2010. The paper discusses few issues and challenges that an Indian startup has to face and the opportunities that the country can provide in the current eco-system.

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