At ET India Inc Boardroom 2022, industry leaders and experts discuss how Indian startups can navigate a tough market

The Indian startup ecosystem, which saw record number of new unicorn additions in 2021, recently witnessed the birth of its 100th unicorn, after
neobank Open closed a $50 million funding round led by . With more than 60,000 startups recognised by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), about 14,000 of them recognised in fiscal 2022 alone, India’s startup ecosystem has grown at a fast clip.

Much of this growth has been fueled by strong private equity investor interest and favorable government initiatives. However, Indian startups today are also facing the impact of rising market volatility and macroeconomic uncertainty, with the ecosystem seeing a slowdown in funding and a growing emphasis on profitability and fundamentals over a growth-at-all-cost model.

To chart out a roadmap for navigating the challenges Indian startups face and identify the next growth opportunities in the ecosystem, the final day of ET India Inc Boardroom 2022 will feature discussions on the theme of startups and entrepreneurship.

Watch the theme-based sessions on ET India Inc Boardroom 2022 here

At the event, startup founders, innovators, policymakers, and business leaders at the centre of India’s new economy will focus on the opportunities for innovation in sectors such as healthcare, the next billion-dollar startup opportunity, and strategies to navigate the current operating environment to build resilient businesses.

The five-day-long ET India Inc Boardroom 2022 event, which kickstarted on May 16, 2022, has since focused on one key theme each day, including economy, ESG, financial inclusion, and digital transformation and automation. Rightly termed as India’s largest corporate boardroom, the ET India Inc Boardroom is being hosted virtually until May 20 for a global audience of over 10,000+ attendees and is brought to you in partnership with Associate Partner Commerzify and Knowledge Partner Bain & Co.

Day 5 of ET India Inc Boardroom: What to expect

• Healthtech: The next billion-dollar startup opportunity
  As per an estimate by IBEF, the Indian healthcare market will be valued at $372 billion by 2022. Health-tech has emerged as an area of multiple opportunities for innovation given the huge market thus drawing a lot of interest from venture capitalists. Online consultations, treatment and door-step delivery of medicines and nutritional supplements, among others, during the pandemic helped health-tech startups prove their mettle. To deliberate on emerging healthtech innovation opportunities and on identifying the next billion dollar opportunity, Dr. Kamini Walia, Scientist F, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Ashutosh Garg, Author, Founder Guardian Pharmacy and Gaurav Agarwal, Co-Founder,TATA 1mg engage in a panel discussion moderated by Parijat Ghosh, Partner, Bain & Co.

• Is talent crunch the next big hurdle for Indian startups?
  As many as 63 per cent Indian companies reported talent shortage, as per the Manpower Group’s research report on Talent Shortage 2020. At the ET India Inc Boardroom 2022, Abhishek Gupta, Chief Customer Officer at CleverTap, Deepanshu Manchanda, Founder & CEO, ZappFresh, and Vinit Bhansali, Senior Vice President at Orios Venture Partners, join Gustaf Ericson, Senior Manager at Bain & Company, to share insights on the actual on-ground realities of the talent crunch companies across various industries are facing and spell out what could be done to overcome hurdles in the growth journey of Indian startups.

• Closing Keynote with Karan Singh, Managing Partner, Bain & Co – India
  Business environment is undergoing change at a pace never seen before. Boardroom agendas are getting redefined to steer businesses to pursue purpose-driven objectives as opposed to profit-driven objectives, in order to create long term value. A key growth driver remains building resilient, purpose-driven businesses that can navigate disruption and adapt to change today, while promoting long-term strategic focus and decision-making to drive performance to not only meet the goals of the shareholders but also that of the environment and society at large. At the closing session of ET India Inc Boardroom 2022, Karan Singh, Managing Partner, Bain & Co – India, will speak on India Next: Defining boardroom agendas for purpose-driven organizations of the future. He’ll highlight how organizations can build a corporate culture that is driven on purpose, and how decision makers should develop and define a business purpose that inspires employees and instills a sense of larger meaning for all stakeholders, while driving performance.

Watch the theme-based sessions on ET India Inc Boardroom 2022 here

The five-day-long ET India Inc Boardroom event kickstarted on Monday, May 16. Each day was focused on one theme. Day 1 of the event began with the theme of economy, Day 2 on ESG, Day 3 on financial inclusion, and Day 4 was about deliberations on digital transformation and automation.

For more on the ET India Inc Boardroom 2022 event, visit the website
here.

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