India's Growth Engine: Start-ups will support creating a developed India by providing employment

The Government of India's Vision 2047 envisions us becoming a developed nation with a GDP of US$ 30 trillion and a per capita income of US$ 18,000-20,000 by the centenary of our independence. This ambitious target would require a huge jump in GDP over the next 23 years from the current GDP of just under $4 trillion. It may sound like a lot but history shows that with the right mix of government policies and private sector initiatives this can be achieved, or rather has already been done.

Between 1970 and 1995, Japan's GDP grew 25-fold from US$215 billion to US$5 trillion. Its per capita income went from US$ 2,100 to US$ 44,000, says Santosh J., Professor-in-Charge, Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SINE), IIT Bombay. Gharpare said.

An important aspect for India to realize its ambitions is job creation. However, the capital-oriented model of development is not inherently labor-intensive, especially after an AI-driven economy where robotic process automation is gaining momentum. Achieving this set target may not be enough to create meaningful employment and increase manufacturing in a manner that will help India overcome its demographic advantage through Make in India. This is where the Government's Startup Support Program comes into play which aims to bring millions of entrepreneurs into our entrepreneurship ecosystem.

This is what The Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SINE), one of India's early-stage education-based incubators built at IIT Bombay, is doing. It is encouraging students, faculty members and alumni to become entrepreneurs. In particular, it is motivating students to become job providers rather than job seekers.

Incubators play a role in promoting entrepreneurship by providing start-to-scale support and driving innovation and creating economic benefits by taking ideas or research from the lab to the market.

Supported by access to workspaces, laboratories for innovation SINE was one of India's first incubators, helping innovators directly mitigate risks and capital requirements. Our incubator provided a semi-sheltered environment for students to test their business ideas when failure became a social stigma. At IIT-Bombay, besides funds and guidance from a large number of experts, access to a shared workspace, laboratories for innovation and technical expertise has become a playbook.