Professional Documents
Culture Documents
1. Introduction…………………………………………………..
… .....2
2. Growth of entrepreneurship in
India………………………………...3
……………….….…..9
5. Conclusion…………………………………………………………
12
6. References…………………………………………….……………
13
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INTRODUCTION
ENTERPRENEUR
“An entrepreneur is one who always searches for change, responds to it and
exploits it as an opportunity. Innovation is the basic tool of entrepreneurs, the means by
which they exploit change as an opportunity for different business of service.”
--Peter Drucker
To put it very simply an entrepreneur is someone who perceives opportunity,
organizes resources needed for exploiting that opportunity and exploits it. Laptops ,
mobile phone, Motor Bikes, Credit Cards, Courier Service, and Ready to eat Foods are
all examples of entrepreneurial ideas that got converted into products or services.
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
‘A systematic innovation, which consists in the purposeful and organized search
for changes, and it is the systematic analysis of the opportunities such changes might
offer for economic and social innovation.’
-- Peter Drucker
Entrepreneurship is the practice of starting new organizations or revitalizing mature
organizations, particularly new businesses generally in response to identified
opportunities.
Entrepreneurship is a creative human act involving the mobilization of resources from
one level of productive use to a higher level of use. "It is the process by which the
individual pursue opportunities without regard to resources currently controlled."
Entrepreneurship involves a willingness to take responsibility and ability to put mind to
a task and see it through from inception to completion. Another ingredient of
entrepreneurship is sensing opportunities, while others see chaos, contradiction, and
confusion. Essence of Entrepreneurship is going against time with maturity and serving
as a change agent.
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GROWTH OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN INDIA
The proper understanding of the growth of entrepreneurship of any country would
evolve within the context of the economic history of the particular country becomes the
subject matter of this section. The growth of entrepreneurship in India is, therefore,
presented into two sections viz.
• Entrepreneurship during Pre-Independence
• Entrepreneurship during Post-Independence
The evolution of the Indian entrepreneurship can be traced back to even as early as
Rigveda, when metal handicrafts existed in the society. This would bring the point home
that handicrafts entrepreneurship in India was as old as the human civilization itself, and
was nurtured by the craftsman as a part of their duty towards the society. Before India
came into contact with west, people were organized in a particular type of economic and
social system of the village community. Then, the village community featured the
economic scene in India. The Indian towns were mostly religious and aloof from the
general life of country. The elaborated cast based diversion of workers consisted of
farmers, artisans and religious priests. The majority of the artisans were treated as
village servants. Such compact system of village community effectively protecting
village artisans from the onslaughts of external competition was one of the important
contributing factors to the absence of localization of industry in ancient India.
Evidently, organized industrial activity was observable among the India artisans in a few
recognizable products in the cities of Banaras, Allahabad, Gaya, Puri & Mirzapur which
were established on their river basins. Very possibly this was because the rivers served
as a means of transportation facilities. These artisan industries flourished over the period
because the Royal patronage was to them to support them. The workshops called
‘kharkhanas’ came into existence. The craftsmen were brought into an association
pronounced as ‘guild system’. On the whole, perfection in art, durability beyond doubt
and appeal to the eye of the individual were the distinguishing qualities inherent in the
Indian craftsmanship that brought much everlasting laurels of name and fame of the
illustrious India in the past. To quote, Bengal enjoyed worldwide celebrity for Corah,
Lucknow for chintzes, Ahmadabad for dupttas, and dhotis, Nagpur for silk boarded
cloth, Kashmir for shawls and Banaras for metal wares. Thus, form the immemorial till
the earlier years of the 18th century, India enjoyed the prestigious status of the queen of
the international trade with the help of its handicrafts.
Unfortunately, so much prestigious Indian handicraft industry, which was basically a
cottage and small sector, declined at the end of the 18th century for various reasons.
These may be listed as-
1. Disappearance of the Indian royal courts who patronized the crafts earlier.
2. The lukewarm attitude of the British colonial govt. towards the Indian crafts.
3. Imposition of heavy duties on the imports of the Indian goods in England.
4. Low priced British made goods produce on large scale which reduced the
competing capacity of the product of the Indian handicrafts.
5. Development of transport in Indian facilitating the easy access of British product
even to far-flung remote part of the country.
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6. Changes in the tastes and habits of the Indian, developing craziness of foreign
products.
7. Unwillingness of the Indian craftsmen to adapt to the changing tastes and needs
of the people.
Some scholars hold the view that manufacturing entrepreneurship in India emerged as
the latent and manifest consequence of east India company advent in India. The
company injected various changes in the Indian economy through export of raw
materials and import of finished goods in India. Particularly, the parsis established good
rapport with the company and were much influenced by the company’s commercial
operations. The company established its first ship building industry in Surat where from
1673 onwards the parsis built vassals for the company. The most important was
shipwright Lowjee Nushirvan, who migrated to Bombay around 1935. He belonged to a
Wadia family which gave birth to many leading ship-builders of Bombay. In 1677,
Manjee Dhanjee was given a contact for building the first large gun powder mill in
Bombay for the east-India company. Besides, a Parsi foreman of a gun factory
belonging to the company established a steel industry in Bombay in 1852. On the basis
of these facts, it can be stated that the east India company made some contribution
towards entrepreneurial growth in India. But whether the company did it deliberately for
the growth of entrepreneurship in India or it was just a coincident that people came in
contact with the company and entered the manufacturing, nothing can be said with
certitude.
The actual emergenced of manufacturing entrepreneurship can be noticed in the second
half of the 19th century. Prior to 1850, some stay failure attempts were, indeed , made by
the Europeans to setup factories in India. In the beginning, the Parsis were the founder
manufacturing entrepreneurs in India.
Ranchodlal chotalal, a Nagar Brahman, was the first Indian to think of setting up the
textile manufacturing on the modern factory lines in 1847, but failed. In his second
attempt, he succeeded in setting up a textile mill in 1861 at Ahmadabad. But before
this, the first cotton textile manufacturing unit was already setup by a Parsi, Cowasjee
Nanabhoy Dabar in Bombay in 1854 fallowed by Nawrosjee wadia who open his textile
mill in Bombay in 1880. The credit for the expansion of textile industries upto 1915
goes to the Parsis. Out of 96 textile mills existing in 1915, 43% (41) were set up by
parsis, 24% (23) by Hindus, 10% (10) By Muslims and 23% (22) by British citizens.
Later, the Parsis invaded other fields, mainly iron and steel industry, also Jamshedjee
Tata was the first Parsi entrepreneur who established the first steel industry in
Jamshedpur in 1911.
In the first wave of manufacturing entrepreneurship, except parsis, all others hailed from
non-commercial communities. Why the well-known commercial communities, namely,
Jains and Vaishyas of Ahmadabad and Baroda, lagged behind in entrepreneurial
initiative throughout the nineteenth century can be explained by two factors. Firstly, the
improvement of business climate in the countryside during this period results in an
increase in the quantum of trade which assumed quick returns on investments. This
proves the commercial activity more lucrative during the period, Secondly; it can also be
attribute to their conservative attitude to change from commercial entrepreneurship to
industrial entrepreneurship.
The Swadeshi campaign, i.e., emphasis on indigenous goods, provided, indeed, a proper
seedbed for inculcating and developing nationalism in the country. It was the influence
of Swadeshi that Jamshedji Tata even named his first mill 'Swadeshi Mill'. The spirit of
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indigenousness strengthened its roots so much in the country that the Krishna Mills in its
advertisement of Tribune of April 13 made the following appeal: "Our concern is
financed by native capital and is under native management throughout"."
The second wave of entrepreneurial growth in India began after the First World War.
For various reasons, the Indian Government agreed to 'discriminating' protection to
certain industries, even requiring that companies receiving its benefits should be
registered in India with rupee capital and have a proportion of their directors as Indians.
The advantages of these measures were mostly enjoyed by the Indians. The Europeans
failed to harness the protectionist policies to their interests." These measures helped in
establishing and extending the factory manufacturing in India during the first four
decades of the twentieth century. During these decades, the relative importance of Parsis
declined and Gujaratis and Marwari Vaishyas gained that pendulum in India's
entrepreneurial scene.
The emergence of Managing Agency System which made its own contribution to the
Indian entrepreneurship can be traced back to 1936 when Carr, Tagore & Co. assumed
the management of Calcutta Steam Tug Association. The credit for this initiation goes
to an Indian, Dwarkanath Tagore, who encouraged others to form joint-stock companies
and invented a distinct method of management in which management remained in the
hands of the 'firm' rather than of an 'individual' . Historical evidences also do confirm
that after the East India Company lost monopoly in 1813, the European Managing
Agency Houses entered business, trade and banking. And, these houses markedly
influenced eastern India's Industrial scene. It is stated that the Managing Agency
Houses were the real entrepreneur for that period particularly in Eastern India.
Brimmer" holds the opinion that Agency Houses emerged to overcome the limitations
imposed by a shortage of venture capital and entrepreneurial acumen though all may not
agree squarely with this view.
1. Not given proper protection: The enterprises were not given proper protection
by British Government.
2. Discouragement by British Government: Only those industries in which the
British Government put their own capital were given encouragement.
3. High railway freight charges: The railway freight charges were higher for
locations not nearer to the ports. This proved that the transportation of the goods
manufactured for the Indian markets were more expensive than goods meant for
exports.
4. Exorbitant tariffs: The British imposed exorbitant tariffs on India made goods.
5. Constantly harassed for getting licenses: Entrepreneurs were constantly
harassed for getting licenses and finance to established and run industries.
6. No facilities for technical education: there were almost any facilities for
technical education which alone could strength Indian industrial
entrepreneurship.
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7. Entrepreneurs faced fierce competition from abroad: The Indian indigenous
entrepreneurs faced fairs competition from machine made goods exported to
India from abroad.
8. Lack of transportation and communication facilities: Lack of transportation
and communication facilities acted as the stumbling blot in the way of industrial
growth.
9. Not encouraged the establishment of heavy industries: The British Government
did not encourage the establishment of heavy industries like heavy machinery,
iron and steel which are necessary for rapid industrialization.
10. Political turmoil: Political turmoil and abolition of princely courts discouraged
the growth of entrepreneurship.
11. Multi-currency system: Prevalence of multi currency system affected the
business environment and blocked the growth.
Inspite of the above problems, the export trade of textile in 17th century was on
ascending trend. During this period, grouping of Indian merchants into joint stock
associations for the purpose of managing the supply of textiles to European companies
was very significant. This helped in exporting huge volume of textiles to the European
markets leading to favorable terms of trade.
Demographic Effects : 77% of area & 82% of population get remain in India whereas
23% of area & 18% of population converted into Pakistan.
Mineral and Natural Resources : 97% of total value of minerals in India in which
major deposits of coal, mica, manganese, iron, etc. whereas 3% of total value of
minerals with major deposits of Gypsum, rock salt, etc. in Pakistan.
Manpower and Manager skill :- India was at loss whereas Muslims possessed these
skills who migrated to Pakistan.
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Transport Facilities: 83% of total route mileage in India whereas 07% of total road
mileage in Pakistan.
Major Ports: India lost major ports which adversely affects India’s exports.
After taking a long sign of political relief in 1947, the Government of India tried to spell
out the priorities to devise a scheme for achieving balanced growth. For this purpose, the
Government came forward with the first Industrial Policy, 1948 which was revised from
time to time." The Government in her various industrial policy statements identified the
responsibility of the State to promote, assist and develop industries in the national
interest. It also explicitly recognised the vital role of the private sector in accelerating
industrial development and, for this, enough field was reserved for the private sector.
(i) to maintain a proper distribution of economic power between private and public
sector;
(ii) to encourage the tempo of industrialisation by spreading entrepreneurship from the
existing centres to other cities, towns and villages, and
(iii) to disseminate the entrepreneurship acumen concentrated in a few dominant
communities
to a large number of industrially potential people of varied social strata.
The number of new companies formed during the 1980-2006 period points to a
possible growth in entrepreneurship. Figures from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs
show that from 1980 to 1991, the average number of companies formed each year was
14,379, while from 1992 to 2006, the average number of companies formed per year
was 33,835. According to the paper, liberalisation itself kick-started the growth of
entrepreneurship in India for it presented businesses in the country with new market
opportunities.
Simultaneously, private sector initiatives such as The Indus Entrepreneurs and National
Entrepreneurship Network also supported India’s knowledge-intensive enterprises. The
increased availability of technically trained people and programmes that offered formal
training in entrepreneurship also bolstered the growth of entrepreneurship.
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CURRENT SCENARIO OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP
IN INDIA
Regulation and governance: An entrepreneur has to deal with a host of regulatory and
compliance issues. These include registering one’s business, obtaining government
clearances and licenses, paying taxes and complying with labour regulations.
Cumbersome paperwork, long delays and red tapism involved in such transactions
create unnecessary burdens for entrepreneurs, constraining their productivity and their
ability to do business. As seen in the Doing Business 2008 rankings, India performs
poorly in these indicators. A study investigating the effect of regulation on
entrepreneurship using the GEM dataset shows India to be having one of the worst
regulatory indices. Moreover, lack of clarity on information relating to legal and
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procedural aspects of starting an enterprise, as well as those relating to clearances,
licenses and government schemes further aggravates the problem.
Infrastructure: India’s physical infrastructure – roads, rail, ports, power, and telecom –
is also considered to be a bottleneck to the smooth operation of entrepreneurial activity.
The high transport and supply chain costs that poor infrastructure entails can be affect
competitiveness to a great extent, particularly for a small and medium enterprise.
Enterprises surveyed in the Global Competitiveness Report 2007-08, rated inadequate
infrastructure as ‘the most problematic factor’ for doing business in India.
In India there is a dearth of quality people in industry, which demands high level of
entrepreneurship development programme through out the country for the growth of
Indian economy.
The scope of entrepreneurship development in country like India is tremendous.
Especially since there is widespread concern that the acceleration in GDP growth in the
post reforms period has not been accompanied by a commensurate expansion in
employment. Results of the 57th round of the National Sample Survey Organization
(NSSO) show that unemployment figures in 2003-04 were as high as 8.9 million.
Incidentally, one million more Indian joined the rank of the unemployed between 2005-
06 & 2007-08. The rising unemployment rate (9.2% 2008 est.) in India has resulted in
growing frustration among the youth. In addition there is always problem of
underemployment. As a result, increasing the entrepreneurial activities in the country is
the only solace. Incidentally, both the reports prepared by Planning Commission to
generate employment opportunities for 10 crore people over the next ten years have
strongly recommended self-employment as a way-out for teaming unemployed youth.
We have all the requisite technical and knowledge base to take up the entrepreneurial
challenge. The success of Indian entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley is evident as proof. The
only thing that is lacking is confidence and mental preparation. We are more of a
reactive kind of a people. We need to get out of this and become more proactive. What
is more important than the skill and knowledge base is the courage to take the plunge.
Our problem is we do not stretch ourselves.
However, it is appreciative that the current generations of youth do not have hang-ups
about the previous legacy and are willing to experiment. These are the people who will
bring about entrepreneurship in India.
At present, there are various organizations at the country level & state level offering
support to entrepreneurs in various ways. The Govt. of India & various State
Governments have been implementing various schemes & programmes aimed at
nurturing entrepreneurship over last four decades. For example, MCED in Maharashtra
provides systematic training, dissemination of the information & data regarding all
aspects of entrepreneurship & conducting research in entrepreneurship. Then there are
various Govt. sponsored scheme for the budding entrepreneurs.
Recognizing the importance of the entrepreneur development in economic growth &
employment generation, Maharashtra Economic Development Council (MEDC) has
identified entrepreneurial development as the one of the focus area for Council activities
two years ago. Various Chambers of Commerce & apex institutions have started
organizing seminars & workshops to promote entrepreneurship. Incidentally, various
management colleges have incorporated entrepreneurship as part of their curriculum.
This is indeed a good development. This shows the commitment of the Govt. & the
various organizations towards developing entrepreneurial qualities in the individuals.
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CONCLUSIONS
There are ample opportunities in small businesses in India and such opportunities will
transform India in the coming future. For such transformation to happen there needs to
be support both at the governmental and societal level. For the government it is
important to realize that the goal of small business owners will be to remain self-
employed. Such people may not need financial assistance but they will need marketing
and legal assistance in order to sustain themselves. Practical and cost effective programs
need to be developed to address their needs because self-employed people will represent
an important segment in economic revitalization. Entrepreneurship development is the
key factor to fight against unemployment, poverty and to prepare ourselves for
globalization in order to achieve overall Indian economic-progress.
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REFERENCES
4. http://knowledgeportal.in/
5. http://dobato.blogspot.com/2006/02/scope-of-entrepreneurship-
development.html
6. http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/
7. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/
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