Start-Up City- Bangalore vs Hyderabad
Initially, India was considered as the market for providing cheap labour to the world and for export of Indian services in the field of IT. Due to this India has witnessed low product development and innovation in the past. But, still it is not too late and the culture of start-ups has started in India in the recent past.
Tech start-ups are leading the growth of start-up era and it is ready to boost revenue generated by IT-BPM sector by almost 12-14 percent for the current fiscal year as well. It is anticipated that the e-commerce market of India will grow by more than 50% within the next five years. India witnessed the largest infusion of capital from overseas through venture capital funds in the year 2014 in the indigenous start-ups. After the inception of a new government in the centre, an optimistic view has been developed around the growth story of Indian economy. This government has also started working towards improving India’s rank in World Bank ease of doing business in which India is currently ranked at 142 positions. This will definitely boost the start-ups of the country. Foreign investors have started looking towards India as a favourable investment destination.
Currently, India has 3,100 start-ups and 868 of them are Bengaluru-based. About 64% of these are led by non-engineers.
Bengaluru has a mixed populace. Even the most niche start-up can easily find a target audience here. The diversity and a growing migrant population is the most attractive factor in Bengaluru.
Another factor that gives the city its advantage is its huge skill base. Bengaluru is the Silicon Valley of the country. The Top MBA Colleges in Karnataka has contributed highly to the entrepreneurial growth in the city. Engineers combine technical knowledge with their creative side to come up with some unique and experimental ideas for start-ups. Around 36 percent founders of start-ups in Bengaluru are engineers. Around 62 percent of start-up founders in Bengaluru have a prior technical background.
Bengaluru may have hogged the start-up spotlight in recent years, but Hyderabad has been working towards building one of the strongest foundations for a powerful start-up ecosystem and hub in India. In fact, there was a time when it was believed that Hyderabad would give Bengaluru a tough competition. The top engineering colleges in India has been producing the most capable candidates to this technology-driven sector.
At the peak of its IT revolution, Hyderabad was home to biggies like Microsoft, Facebook, and Google. A common anecdote of the time was how then Chief Minister, Chandrababu Naidu, managed a meeting Bill Gates and convinced him to start Microsoft’s Research Centre out of Hyderabad. However, political issues like the Telangana movement put a halt to Hyderabad’s march towards becoming the predominant start-up hub.
Despite Bengaluru’s excellent response to providing exposure and opportunity to start-up ecosystems, Hyderabad has emerged as one of the most efficient Indian cities to offer an unbiased foundation to start-up ventures in recent times.
There was a total of 13 start-ups in Hyderabad that received $30 million of funding in 2014, while the count exceeded to 39 start-up ventures worth $52.5 million.
Hyderabad has opened its arms for not a particular sector but for numerous industries. Right from tech-savvy mobile app start-up niches, including AppVirality, Zify and Canvas Flip to health and wellness ventures like Zapluk, ManageMySpa, Truweight, Healthians and MapMyGenome. The city finances all sectors wholeheartedly.
Whatever may be the city, Indian start-up ecosystem has really taken off and come into its own—driven by factors such as massive funding, consolidation activities, evolving technology and a burgeoning domestic market.
The numbers are telling—from 3,100 start-ups in 2014 to a projection of more than 11,500 by 2020, this is certainly not a passing trend. It’s a revolution. And it’s going to change the way the markets are working today in India. With 4200-4400 start-ups, India is marginally trailing behind the UK that has over 4800-5000 technology-driven start-ups.
