Startup fever in Southeast Asia and its implication for India(13)

Implication of Southeast Asia's startup fever for India to improve public services

According to this year's release of UNDP (United Nations Development Plan) on GII (Gender inequality Index), India was ranked 127th among the 189 surveyed nations in the world. All 10 members in ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) received higher scores than India in terms of women's social status.

Overall assessments on criteria encompassing maternal mortality ratio, share of seats in parliament and labor force participation ratio of India turned out alarmingly low.

Startup fever in Southeast Asia and its implication for India(12)

Implication of Southeast Asia's startup fever for India to improve public services

For instance, Halodoc, an Indonesian health tech startup, has been providing tele-consultations with doctors, pharmacy delivery, and at-home lab services through its mobile application with reasonable price options to remedy the underprivileged public access to the medical service. 

Truly, more and more startups in Southeast Asia are joining to unravel rampant shortages and inefficiencies of basic public services including primary education and health on the spot.

Startup fever in Southeast Asia and its implication for India(11)

Implication of Southeast Asia's startup fever for India to improve public services

In spite of the snowballing increase in the number of Indian startups, not many young CEOs seem fascinated in jumping into the public sector. Most local startups have been allegedly involved in the apparently growing and thus lucrative business fields such as e-commerce, accommodation and transportation industries. 

Of course, this is no exception to their peers in Southeast Asia. However, continuous efforts to tackle long distorted public services have been reported from Southeast Asia.

Startup fever in Southeast Asia and its implication for India(10)

Implication of Southeast Asia's startup fever for India to improve public services

Presence of as many as 22,000 startups in operation across the country has been partly attributed the government program backed by the latest strong economic growth. 

In fact, Bengaluru in the Southern part of India, often termed as the Indian Silicon Valley, has even claimed the second place in the list of best locations for launching tech startups globally. Now the thing is not in quantity but in quality in India. 

Startup fever in Southeast Asia and its implication for India(9)

Implication of Southeast Asia’s startup fever for India to improve public services

Additionally, as widely known, some CEOs of top-tier multinational technology companies like Google, Microsoft and Nokia have been supplied from the vast pool of Indian IT talents. 

Under this circumstance, the Indian government has also come up with a new initiative, 'Startup India', to foster startup ecosystems in the country since 2015. The purpose of Startup India is to generate startup-friendly environments for young entrepreneurs to unfold their unfettered business spirit in the ever-changing digital period.