Zerodha’s Nithin Kamath sees a silver lining for India in the ‘startup world’s excesses’

Zerodha CEO Nithin Kamath on Friday said on Twitter that due to the “startup world’s excesses”, for the first time in India many are aspiring to be entrepreneurs. “More people building for India, in India is the only way we can get to $5 trillion+,” he further said in reference to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s exhortation to the countrymen to turn India into a $5-trillion economy by FY25.

“The silver lining of the startup world’s excesses is that, for the first time in India, there are so many aspiring to be entrepreneurs. Almost like how people want IIT, IIM, Civil Services, etc. More people building for India, in India is the only way we can get to $5 trillion+,” tweeted Kamath. 

He’s referring to the amount of money being pumped into the Indian startups by investors across the world, thus giving them unicorn status. India is currently home to over 100 unicorns. A unicorn company is a startup company that is valued at over $1 billion.

“Building a business is extremely hard. Over the last three to four years, the startup boom has made it seem like starting a business is an easy thing to do. Doing business – making people pay for your products and services is really the hardest thing to do. People believe that building a business with a certain valuation is equal to building a business. Which isn’t true. A business is a business when it starts creating positive cash flow – that is what you make out of it is more than what you have put in.

“Today entrepreneurs are almost looked at like heroes and everyone wants to be on the other side, it’s important to realise that the other side is really hard,” said Kamath recently in an interview with Moneycontrol.