What do the founders of Ola, Zerodha and PhysicsWallah have in common? They did not begin in the corporate boardrooms but in the classrooms. India is slowly but surely transforming education into the start-up point of new-age entrepreneurs who will power the economy of the future.
Incubators on Campus: Breeding Grounds for Innovation
The best education institutions in India are no longer textbook and examination oriented-they have turned into complete incubation centres. The IIMs, IITs, and even the new private universities such as Ashoka and Shiv Nadar are preparing the students to start a start up. Such centres provide mentorship and seed funding, co-working spaces, and access to alumni networks.
The IITM Incubation Cell of IIT Madras has helped more than 240 startups since its founding and the total funding has exceeded 500 crores. Edtech to deep tech, students are opening scalable businesses even before graduation. What is behind this? Commitment to maintain a friendly climate that promotes risk-taking and the failure is not punished. These institutions are busy transforming the story-line- job seekers to job creators. It is an evident cultural transformation. Just like someone linking their parimatch mobile number to explore a platform independently, these student-founders are navigating systems and building their own paths with confidence.
Entrepreneurship in the Curriculum
The Indian education system is changing with the entrepreneurial spirit more than elective courses. A number of colleges now include startup modules in core curriculums. IIM Bangalore provides a program called NSRCEL, which helps entrepreneurs in early stages of their founding in business planning and implementation. BITS Pilani has a practical course called New Venture Creation and by the end of the semester the students pitch to actual investors. I have visited a pitch day in a management institute in Pune. It was not only the smoothness of the presentations I found so impressive, but the fact that the ideas were embedded in the local, real world problems that needed solving. There was a team that was doing an agri-drone to spray pesticides more effectively to the marginal farmers. One was a pitched telehealth service targeted at Tier 3 towns.
These are not research papers, they are business concepts at work. Risk analysis, business model testing and go-to-market strategy are now being actively developed through the curriculum. Now it is not an isolated study of entrepreneurship; it is being considered as an alternative formal career choice.
EdTech and Self-Learning: Leveling the Playing Field
Access to entrepreneurial knowledge has become democratized in India because of the proliferation of EdTech platforms. Not all the students get into an IIT or IIM- but the availability of courses through platforms such as UpGrad, Coursera, and Youtube channels by the Indian founders have altered this, as well. Look at the PhysicsWallah of Alakh Pandey. What started as a mere YouTube channel soon became a unicorn EdTech startup, and its revenues passed 350 crores by 2023. His tale has its origin in instruction at a tinny classroom in Prayagraj, and it is symptomatic of a bigger pattern. Learners in rural areas have gained access to mobile phones to learn coding and design products and even financial modelling.
During my research in a small-town in Rajasthan among students, I was surprised to find so many students following startup stories over the internet, learning to create apps and even prototyping business ideas. Just as easily as they register their parimatch mobile number to explore digital platforms, they’re registering domains and launching MVPs. This is not an accident. It happens because the access and desire match the digital tools.
Policy Support and National Missions
The endeavors of the government are also gaining popularity in promoting entrepreneurship through education. Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) has established Atal Tinkering Labs in more than 10,000 schools that give children access to instruments such as 3D printers, robotics kits, and do-it-yourself electronics. The students will learn to ideate, prototype and pitch- starting as early as class 6. At the academic higher education, Startup India and the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 promote freedom, creativity, and thinking. NEP also proposes internship connected learning and establishment of innovation hubs at universities.
Such system support is important. And in the case of policies that are aligned with the vision and mission of the institution as well as with the aspirations of students, the output is a flow of entrepreneurs who are confident and capable. In Hyderabad, I found a student who developed a simple fintech product as a senior project during his college career and then received seed funding in the form of a state startup grant. Although it is still developing, the ecosystem is becoming powerful, and it is deeply based on education.
Conclusion
Indian education is no longer an exam and placement affair. It is up and coming as an active driver of entrepreneurship. The system is busy making room to be innovative through incubation centres and contemporary curriculums, affordable EdTech, and new and future-orientated policies. When they say today it is so true and the students are not waiting up to graduation and starting up, they are experimenting, iterating and implementing within the classrooms. As easy as linking a parimatch mobile number to open an app, they’re registering ventures and stepping into the real market. This change is all-important. It heralds the emergence of an entrepreneur spirit which is not a prisoner of geography or background but of purpose, thought and educated knowledge. And it is just taking off.
