Building businesses for the next billion Indians: What entrepreneurs need to understand

When I look at India’s next billion, I do not see a single consumer segment waiting to be targeted. I see a much larger economic population that is still moving into formal markets in different ways as entrepreneurs, employees, suppliers, creators, professionals, farmers, and small-business owners.

This distinction is important because India is changing not only how people consume but also how they participate in the economy and think about work. The traditional idea of a secure and successful career was often closely associated with a government job or a conventional salaried profession. That definition is steadily changing as we have more to explore and delve into. These days, many people choose to have their own businesses, work in emerging businesses, become suppliers, work independently, develop specialised professions, or even work to earn a livelihood from their local skills. Entrepreneurship has become a much wider form of work and economy than is generally assumed by technology entrepreneurs.

India is now home to over 2.35 lakh startups, recognised by the DPIIT, creating over 24 lakh direct employment; of which, more than half have originated from Tier-II and Tier-III cities. Over 55,200 startups were recognized during FY2025-26 itself, which is the highest number of startups recognized in a single year since the inception of Startup India. This is why the next phase of entrepreneurship cannot be only about creating more startups. It has to be about creating more businesses that can survive, employ people, and become part of their local economies.


Wider reach of technology

India has an enormous opportunity in applying technology at a population scale. The country may have entered the AI race at a later stage, but it has something different to work with: a large digital population, increasingly connected businesses and public infrastructure that can carry technology across very different markets. The progress of the IndiaAI Mission shows how quickly this foundation is developing. By August 2026, subsidised AI computing had been accessed by 237 projects covering 93.18 lakh GPU hours, while AI Kosh had grown to more than 15,800 datasets and 350 AI models. Twenty AI solutions had also been deployed across public-sector institutions.

The entrepreneurs have a great opportunity here in making this capacity useful for the companies that cannot afford expensive technology and specialised talent. AI can help a small business understand demand, improve productivity, conduct basic market research, navigate government schemes, or reach customers in markets that were previously difficult to access.

Digital India and manufacturing India

India will need more manufacturing, engineering, and physical infrastructure alongside its digital capabilities because software alone cannot support the economic requirements of the next billion. The next billion therefore need to be thought of not only as buyers of manufactured goods, but as participants in making them. Semicon 2.0, approved in July 2026 with an outlay of Rs 1,27,500 crore, is widening India’s semiconductor push across chip design, materials and machines, additional fabs, advanced packaging, R&D and talent. By September 2026, five semiconductor plants under the first phase had commenced commercial production, while around 70,000 design engineers had been trained over four years. The significance of this shift extends beyond semiconductor production itself. A stronger manufacturing economy can create opportunities across engineering, component supply, logistics, maintenance, specialised services and technology, allowing people and smaller businesses to participate at different points of a larger value chain.

India has also continued to expand manufacturing through initiatives such as PLI, while Rs 2.40 lakh crore of investment was attracted across 14 PLI sectors, generating Rs 22.66 lakh crore of production and more than Rs 15.20 lakh crore of exports.

Bharat will speak in many languages

India’s next phase of digital adoption will not be built around one language or one type of user. Hindi and regional languages will increasingly shape how people search, learn, transact, and consume information. The opportunity is to design products around how people actually communicate.

India’s current AI infrastructure push includes indigenous foundation-model development, with 20 foundation-model proposals selected from 506 applications, including large multimodal and small language models.

This is not limited to commerce, as it goes beyond that. There are thousands and lakhs of regional-language creators, educators, journalists, and artists who are attracting a sizeable number of people, building audiences and businesses without having to relocate to a major city. In the world of entrepreneurship, it is not just about language and location; it's about grasping the diversity of Bharat users and breaking the lingual boundaries.

Make the customer part of the infrastructure

Capital gets discussed far more easily than customers. But for a young enterprise, the first meaningful order can change the business far more than another workshop. It validates the product, generates cash flow, creates a reference, and gives the entrepreneur evidence that the market is willing to pay.

India’s public procurement system is already creating such opportunities. Over 40,000 startups are participating on GeM, with startup procurement exceeding Rs 61,400 crore.

The larger lesson is not about GeM alone. Entrepreneurship policy has to think about demand alongside supply. A founder should receive support that goes beyond just registering a company and raising money. The system should also make it easier to find the first buyer, the first distributor, the first institutional customer, and eventually the first export market. It is about understanding who will pay for it, how it will reach them, and what will make the business sustainable after the first sale.

Solve ecosystems, not isolated problems

Agriculture offers one of the clearest examples. A farmer does not experience financing, insurance, inputs, storage, processing, logistics, and market access as separate industries. They experience one livelihood. The opportunity, therefore, is to understand how these pieces interact and remove the friction between them.

The same principle applies to rural enterprises more broadly. Over 9 lakh ommunity resource persons are now working as part of the rural support network, including nearly 4.08 lakh livelihood CRPs working across agriculture, livestock, fisheries, forest produce and enterprise development.

Another example is the traditional artisan. With support provided under the four pillars that are skill, tool, credit, digital incentive & market linkages- PM Vishwakarma achieved its milestone of registering 30 lakh artisans. These factors indicate a greater opportunity for entrepreneurs; that is, companies are not always required to create a new market. But sometimes the better opportunity is to find a way to organize an existing economic activity in a better way, link it to formal markets, and get it from local livelihood to scalable enterprise.

This is the point where the idea grows beyond startups. When more individuals beyond the major cities establish sustainable enterprises, these businesses can generate local employment, enhance supply chains, and transform district-level skills into national companies. Gradually, some can enter manufacturing, electronics, renewable energy, healthcare technology, AI, aerospace, defence, and additional high-value sectors.

India then shifts from expanding its consumer base to broadening its producer base. That is also what makes Bharat’s diversity an economic advantage. A company that masters operating across languages, price ranges, fragmented markets, and diverse local conditions is building skills that can extend far beyond India.

The opportunity, therefore, is not simply to build products that the next billion Indians will buy. It is to build businesses that allow the next billion to earn, create, supply, employ and grow. That is the real shift entrepreneurs need to understand about Bharat: the next billion are not waiting at the end of the value chain. They can become a much larger part of the value chain itself.

The author is Founder and CEO of Live Times