India has a rich history of entrepreneurship. From ancient traders plying the Silk Road to Innovative Indian business leaders founding global companies, Indians have always been known for their entrepreneurial spirit. Several factors have contributed to the development of an entrepreneurial ecosystem in India. The success stories of Indian businesses and leaders will vouch for it. Currently, the latest Indian market trends drive sustainable business in India with the inspiring leadership of Indian entrepreneurs. In today's rapidly changing business environment, entrepreneurial leadership has emerged as a key driver of innovation, growth, and success. Here is the story of five entrepreneurs who built their markets in India.
How Bhavish Aggarwal Created His Watermark with Ola
Born in Ludhiana in 1985, Bhavish Aggarwal started his professional journey very early. He graduated with a Computer Science and Engineering degree from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay in 2008. While studying at IIT, Bhavish also worked as a research intern at Microsoft Research India for three months. After completing the course, the young man soon joined Microsoft as a Research Assistant in July 2008. During his two years at the tech giant, Bhavish filed two patents and published three papers in international journals. But this did not quench his thirst to achieve something big in his life. Bhavish always knew he wanted to be a successful entrepreneur.
Aggarwal had many goals in life, but working at Microsoft wasn't one of them. Unable to hold back his entrepreneurial passion, Bhavish quit his job and soon founded an online company selling short-term trips and holidays. Meanwhile, while traveling from Bangalore to Bandipur one day, he ran into a problem that later gave birth to the idea of a $1 million startup, Ola Cabs. He realized that the lack of convenience in getting taxis was a real and deep-rooted problem for many people across the country. Bhavish investigated the issue and found that many customers are victims of such situations and are in dire need of quality taxi services in India. At that moment, Bhavish could first imagine the potential of a taxi booking business. Soon after, he learned about all the loopholes in the taxi service industry and decided to start a taxi aggregation company that would provide excellent customer service and economical prices. To this end, he, along with Ankit Bhati, another IITian from Jodhpur, launched Olatrips.com in Mumbai on December 3, 2010, allowing customers to book cars for trips outside the city. That’s how he created the market for Ola Cabs. Cut to the present, Ola has entered the EV manufacturing business, and Ola Electric gained 49 percent of the market share in May 2024, continuing its dominance in the E2W segment.
The Man Behind Zomato
Deepinder Goyal has revolutionized the food industry with his food delivery app, Zomato, which was launched as an updated version of the food catalog service Foodiebay. Goyal and Chadda, both IIT graduates and analysts at Bain and Company, founded Foodiebay in 2008. In just nine months, Foodiebay became the largest restaurant directory in Delhi NCR. After two successful years, the company changed its name to Zomato and has never looked back. Zomato offered its customers one thing that they never knew they were desperate for utmost convenience while having their favorite food from their favorite restaurant. Once we knew it was possible to have our favorite food without any hassle and with the comfort of our home, the market built itself.
With investor support and multiple rounds of sequential funding, Zomato has not only appreciated its valuation but has also built an interesting investor portfolio that includes Info Edge India, Sequoia, Vy Capital, Singapore-based investment firm Temasek and Alibaba's Ant Financial. Zomato has overtaken Paytm and BYJU'S as the most valuable company in the Indian startup ecosystem, with a market capitalization of $17.91 billion. Zomato's rapid growth can also be attributed to its rapid expansion into countries outside India. Soon after achieving success in Delhi-NCR, the company started expanding its operations in cities like Pune, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad.
How Flipkart's Sachin and Binny Bansal Revolutionised E-commerce in India
In 2007, two IIT graduates from Delhi quit their comfortable jobs at Amazon to become entrepreneurs. The duo, Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, overcame their parents’ fierce opposition to start their own business— to build an online shopping comparison system before turning their attention to e-commerce and Flipkart.
For months of sleepless nights, they agonized over the decision, and they realized that many of the rules of the game would have to be written and rewritten. In 2007, e-commerce was a fledgling opportunity in India, just passing the $1 billion mark, and businesses at the time were struggling with poor internet penetration, limited engineering skills, and poor customer experience. Starting its journey with book delivery and relying on the creaky logistics of India Post and private couriers, Flipkart has come a long way to raise about $500 million from goods delivery and wants to double that amount in just two years. Flipkart has also transformed from an investor pariah to a darling, raising about $381 million in funding. Flipkart really built the E-commerce market in India along with the global giant Amazon.
According to reports, as of FY23, Flipkart was the market leader, with a 48 percent share in India's E-commerce market. The company continues to grow faster than the industry. Mobile and Apparel are Flipkart's largest selling categories, with around 50 percent and 30 percent mix, respectively. Flipkart is estimated to hold 48 percent and 60 percent market share in the online smartphone and online fashion market, respectively.
Vijay Shekhar Sharma, the Paytm Story
Vijay Shekhar Sharma may have had tough beginnings, but with his hard work and determination, he quickly rose to great heights. Vijay's rags-to-riches story is something everyone should know, as it saw a dramatic turnaround from record-breaking success to much tougher times. While many may think One97 was Vijay Shekhar Sharma's first foray into business, it was actually his second big idea. In 2010, he realized that the recently launched 3G network in India would have a major impact on the Indian IT business landscape. He sensed an opportunity and worked hard to build Paytm.
It was an instant hit with the newly digitized segment of Indian society and managed to install 15 million wallets on the platform within 10 months of its launch. Paytm not only built a strong market for digital transactions and democratized digital wallets, but the whole fintech industry owes it to Paytm for building trust in the market.
Demonetization has been a boon for the online payment platform Paytm, which has seen its transactions soar by 700 percent. This has helped Paytm achieve a massive valuation of $10 billion in just two years. It was an instant hit with the newly digitized segment of Indian society and managed to get 15 million wallets installed on the platform within 10 months of its launch.
Ritesh Agarwal, the Man Behind OYO
Ritesh Agarwal is a 25-year-old entrepreneur who dropped out of college and founded OYO, short for On Your Own, the world's largest budget hotel chain. He didn't have a magic formula. He just did a lot of hard work with a dream to make travel more affordable for everyone. Agarwal has gone through many difficult times. He dropped out of college and sold SIM cards to survive. His path was marked more by struggles than by his early successes. Despite facing personal tragedies, including losing his father soon after his marriage, Riteish did not give up on his dreams. From his teenage years, until he left college and started his own business, he went against what people thought he should do. His story teaches us that through hard work during difficult times, he can achieve incredible success.
At age 19, he became a member of the prestigious Thiel Fellowship, which allowed him to shape his ideas. Thiel Fellowship is a scholarship program that awards a total of 8 million rupees over approximately 20 years to only 20 students from around the world to help them achieve their dreams. This led to the launch of OYO Stays, an Airbnb-inspired budget accommodation platform, in September 2012. The success of Oyo Stays laid the foundation for the introduction of OYO Rooms in May 2013, revolutionizing the budget accommodation industry in India.