Processing .....please wait.. 
The article has been forwarded.... 
Employees turn entrepreneurs owing to recession
By Eureka Bharali
|
Tuesday, 13 January 2009, 19:32 IST
Bangalore: Daunted by the recent trends in the economy, the employees see more opportunity in spearheading a firm than being under the commands of some management entities. "As employees are constantly losing their jobs, we see more entrepreneurs coming up," said Jay Pullur, CEO of Pramati in a panel discussion at Headstart Compute 2009.
The growing tendency of being entrepreneurs comes at a time, when the venture firms are tightening their purse strings. The country witnessed VC investments of only $81 million over 16 deals in the December ended quarter as against $275 million over 50 deals in the same period of the previous year. Moreover, even the foreign institutional investors have pulled out an estimated $13 billion from the domestic stock market in 2008.
The basic target behind the shift is the strengthening consumer space. "Indian consumers are changing in last three years. The country's consumer market will surge from the 12th largest to the 5th largest," said Harish Gandhi, Executive Director, Canaan Partner. Even the country's income is expected to triple within the next 15 years, he adds. Innovations in the mobile and internet space also provide vast opportunity for new leaders to emerge.
"While in China there are 2000 startups in the internet and mobile space, in India the number hardly touches 50. So, startups can make money in innovation in these space," said Rajesh Sawhney, CEO, Reliance Entertainment. While in the internet space, the India sites maintain a clichéd look, the mobile space lacks any improvement in application after the novel ringback tone. Hence, Kiran Konduri, CEO, Ask Laila expects the downturn to bring better of the entrepreneurs as they will try to gain foothold innovating on all lines with the long term consequences in mind.