Amid Startup India hype, startups in Kashmir await paradigm shift

Amid Startup India hype, startups in Kashmir await paradigm shiftThrowing the catchphrase ‘Startup India, Standup India’ , PM Narendra Modi announced a plethora of initiatives last week to boost entrepreneurship in the country that already ranks third in the global startup ecosystem, according to IT industry body Nasscom. Being labelled a head-start – a three-year tax holiday, business incubators, research parks, among other initiatives and Rs 10,000 cr start-up fund – have been promised by the PM to give wings to his ambitious project.

Whether or not the budding startups would be able to ‘take the leap of faith’ with the initiative is yet to be seen; however, for employees to become entrepreneurs, grass root hurdles pose as the biggest challenge for execution of ideas.  The Start-up India project, while on the other hand, is trying to focus more on ‘encouraging innovation’ instead of ‘removing roadblocks’, according to some entrepreneurs based in Kashmir valley.

Startups are a necessity in Kashmir

Most entrepreneurs, who have recently started businesses in Kashmir, say that instead of being an option, startups are a necessity given the current economic situation in Kashmir.

The only entrepreneur from Kashmir to attend StartUp India event held last week in Delhi, Muheet Mehraj, shares that lack of proper ecosystem in Kashmir to boost entrepreneurship is the biggest obstacle for most entrepreneurs.

Founder of KashmirSTORE, which sells ethnic Kashmiri products online, Javid Amin points out how the entrepreneurs often end up getting caught in a vicious circle. “Due to lack of ecosystem, aspirants approach banks. But the investment taken from banks is a disadvantage for business startups,” he shares.

Tedious bureaucratic set-up is another nightmare

Tedious bureaucratic set-up, like the rest of the country, is what most young entrepreneurs consider another major impediment for the success of business ventures in Kashmir.

“The bureaucracy should get out of entrepreneurs’ way whose ideas and passion is trampled by the tedious paperwork. It takes years and by that time, many lose the focus required to set up a venture,” Syed Mujtaba, founder of Kashmir Art Quest, a contemporary arts foundation set up in 2009, says.

Agreeing that Startup India’s proposal of setting up Incubation centres might help, Mujtaba adds that given the non-existent eco-system in the valley, the government should at least help in setting up incubation center which can provide a network of information, infrastructural and support-system for start-ups in order to succeed.
In the ultimate pursuit of investors

The entrepreneurs also face hurdles as Kashmir still struggles to find place in the map of angel investors or venture capitalists. Abid Rashid, founder of PipeApp a serious content delivery platform, points out the government agencies have failed to create a support system for startups.

He, however, says that he is optimistic that many firms may move to Kashmir to invest in start-ups as the signs are emerging.

Echoing the concerns of many startup owners, Abid says the state government’s Entrepreneurship Development Institute instead of creating entrepreneurs is creating debtors for banks. “How can startups be successful when they start by owing money to a bank,” he asks.

Sheikh Shahbaz, who turned his hobby into a WiFi and hotspot solution company – Firefly also sees competition and cooperation from companies outside the state. “It started without any investors. Whatever I earned, I put that back into Firefly and most of my investments are from my own pocket,” he shares.

Meanwhile, on Friday, PDP President Mehbooba Mufti also met budding entrepreneurs in Srinagar a week after coalition partner’s supremo Modi held the grand event. She, however, invoked her father former CM Mufti Mohammad Sayeed during the two-hour long session, and said it was her father’s desire to promote entrepreneurship in the state.

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