The India business landscape is prepared to grow in multiple areas due to several factors such as international trade, government stimulus, and an overall strong developing country. With a young population that is rising to leadership and technology driving growth and innovation, there are several business opportunities in multiple sectors that we are going to explore today.
For each business idea, I am going to talk a bit about the opportunity behind it, its startup cost potential, and where you can get started to execute. There is bound to be a successful business idea here for you.
Social impact is becoming a priority in India as consumers are intelligent, and know what they consume has an effect on them and the earth. This business idea involves fundraising money from various groups of investors to create a fund that will invest in socially responsible and positive earth-impacting ventures.
There is a lot of demand in India for social impact, instead of just creating a business that makes money, due to the sophistication of people being quite high.
There is a large opportunity for residents in India to generate their own power and save money. For this idea, you would buy and setup solar equipment for people to install on their roofs or balconies since apartment living is popular.
The solar could feed into the main battery for the individual or building to provide additional power. To execute, you could start by finding 10 people interested in this service that will pay you before the work is done, and then you have the money to buy solar panels, creating a low initial investment for this business idea.
Inspired by the previous business idea of installing home solar panels. This business idea involved developing electrical generators that can store extra power for a small community. For this idea, one could approach different communities in Indian cities or towns to find the groups that need this.
This business idea for India sprouts from the problem that utility companies have of providing energy consistently and reliably to every person in the country. There is also a heavy reliance on coal that will eventually need to be shifted to electricity for sustainability.
There is a significant growing demand for stronger and better internet throughout all of India. Although there are currently providers, there is a lack of internet speeds in the rural parts of India and even some issues with connectivity from the larger corporations. This leaves the business idea for starting an internet infrastructure in perfect light to execute.
Although this business idea is not low-cost, it would have a lot of positive impact on people and could make a lot of money.
E-Commerce is growing at a substantial pace. This is mainly due to the access to cheap labor and goods, as well as the ability to ship internationally at a fraction of the cost it used to years ago. This business idea specifically relates to selling cultural items from India.
Given that many people around the world appreciate the culture in India, many would like to have authentic pieces of art in their homes. By setting up an e-commerce store to fulfill this, you can solve that problem. The company would be low-cost to start, and you could begin by partnering with your favorite street vendors.
Again, playing off the e-commerce trend, the warehouse management company for e-commerce would provide fulfillment for the e-commerce stores. Instead of an e-commerce store setting up its own distribution channels, buying fleet trucks, and warehouses to store the goods, this company would do it all for them.
You could start by buying large pieces of land to hold people’s goods. Then use a shipping company to send them to the places they need to go, this business idea could make money from holding people’s goods in the warehouse. As well, you could charge for each shipment sent. This is a larger-scale business idea, but also has the potential to make a lot of money.
In India, many shipping companies are facing the problem of having extreme difficulties providing delivery services to some rural areas. This is because the road infrastructure is not developed enough, or it is just very far from everything else. With this idea, you can provide last-mile delivery solutions by setting up a warehouse on the edge of the city limits.
Then, once the other shipping company gets there, you handle the final miles of the trip. This may involve buying a fleet of scooters or shipping trucks to deliver the shipments for the last couple of miles. Places that regular shipping companies are not willing to do.
This company would need some investment to fund the warehouse outside city limits, as well as vehicles or drones for the last-mile delivery service.
Cash is a huge part of business transactions in India. People are more comfortable using cash than other payment methods. Until now. The growth of mobile payment solutions is ripe for extreme growth.
A significant portion of the population has smartphones and relies on them to communicate, do research, and watch entertainment.
This business idea would require a decent amount of startup capital, however, because this is directed for business in India, there is a wealth of programmers and coders that one would have access to. Making the startup costs lower, and more reasonable.
As I mentioned before, e-commerce business ideas are ready to blow up in India due to multiple factors positively influencing the market. With this, comes a lot of compliance and regulations that need to be followed. This company would provide those solutions to other e-commerce companies so they could operate legally.
Since the government is always looking at new laws to implement in the business environment, this idea would help many other entrepreneurs navigate the field of compliance and regulations.
This is a low-cost business idea that could be executed by using only yourself and your knowledge of the industry regulations.
The blockchain is a growing technology and is going to become an essential part of the business in the Indian marketplace in the coming years. The government has set up support funds to help the development of technologies like this and the Internet of Things, leaving this business idea ripe for making money.
The blockchain tracking bank ledger would allow e-commerce store owners to track where their payments are coming from, verify they are secure, and be able to accept money faster. There is a large problem with the current “Cash on Delivery” system where the money is only collected once the goods are delivered. This creates a large cash flow problem for stores that could be solved using this trustworthy and verified technology.
The Indian government has released plans to support the development and innovation that is happening with the Internet of Things technology. This support is a huge opportunity for businesswomen and men to create a startup that services this area. One related business idea is to be an internet of things Home Builder/ Consultant.
You would work with developers or existing homeowners to transform their living space into one that is automated to their liking. Turning their regular home into a Smart Home.
This business idea would be low-cost to start, as the parts for the IoT installations are quite cheap, and you could find clients that would pay you up-front for the services.
Again, with the support for the IoT market, and the growing need for more reliable energy sources, there is a great opportunity for providing a solar electrical smart grid. This company would set up the internet of things networks and sensors for each household or building attached to the electrical grid. From there, the electricity use could be monitored from a remote location.
During the peak power demands, the smart grid company would have the ability to re-route power to certain areas for providing enough energy at peak demands or for restoring power to an area that lost power from one part of the electricity grid.
This idea would be high-cost but also could be subsidized potentially by the Indian government.
Consumption of TV India is a popular past-time and even a great place for people to gather and enjoy their favorite shows. With this popularity comes a business idea that specializes in creating and managing companies’ TV ads. This would involve creating the ads that would go on TV for the company.
To execute, one could start approaching companies that are already running ads on TV, or one can approach competitors who don’t have ads on the TV and they can be your client. There is no sign of TV usage slowing in India so this is a great business idea.
Startup costs would involve studio space, green screens, cameras, and lighting to create the ads you need.
The use of mobile phones in India compared to that of the United States or Canada is incredibly different. Cell phone usage is high, and there is a growing demand for continued use as well. This presents the business opportunity to develop mobile advertising for companies that do not have the knowledge or bandwidth or do this.
This idea would specialize in creating mobile ads for companies so they can reach potential customers more effectively than traditional print media.
It could start out as a low-cost business idea if you have some marketing or advertising skills, as you don’t need much to create mobile ads.
Biometric sensors are the kind of sensors that scan for your eye or your finger to specifically identify an individual. With the growing need for higher security measures and the support from the Indian government for the Internet of Things technology, it won’t be long until people are putting biometric sensors in everything.
This business idea would develop and sell these sensors to companies that would install them into products or services. There would need to be a medium-sized investment to make this happen as one would have to rent or build facilities to manufacture the sensors.
However, there can be high financial rewards as multinational companies would likely want to do business with you as they use biometric sensors more and more.
As mentioned previously, there is a demand for providing shipping services to places outside of large cities. The demand for delivery to these areas is only going to grow as internet access increases and becomes better.
The rural drone delivery company solves this problem by providing service to rural parts of the country. Drones can easily be built to carry large parcels safely and securely. Additionally, they do not have to worry about the rough terrain in reaching these rural parts, and can simply fly.
To start this business you would want to buy a couple of drones, and then start making partnerships with businesses in rural areas that require regular shipments.
Another blockchain technology company. This time it is designed around helping speed up and create efficient border shipments. With the huge exporting economy that India has, there are a lot of shipments that get opened and checked to avoid drug smuggling.
With the blockchain ledger for shipping, companies would register each package sent with the blockchain so customs could verify who it was from, what it is, and where it is going without having to open the package. This would save a lot of time and money.
To execute on this business idea, knowledge of how blockchain technology is developed would be needed. Once created, one could approach various e-commerce companies as potential clients to help them ship things faster, and make more money.
DDOS attacks (where hackers send so much traffic to a website that it crashes the server) are becoming a huge threat to some businesses in India. With the rise of fast internet speeds across the entire country, more hackers are going to be targeting companies as they grow.
This idea solves this problem by creating a company that can identify DDOS attacks, and prevent them from happening in the first place. Although some firms are already doing this, there is a lot of room to make money in this area. This would be a medium-cost business due to the server space that would be needed, as well as the software and coding needed to be done to create a DDOS prevention company. However, the creator could charge a lot of money for the service since some businesses could lose thousands of dollars in just hours if their website went down.
This business idea is not revolutionary, has already been done, but there is high demand for this. Many of the reports show the importance for small businesses to create websites for their stores. With this comes the need for web designers to help them as not all small business owners want to do this themselves.
This startup would be low-cost as you would only need some web designing skills and a computer to execute. Next, you can begin by approaching every local business in your town to see if you can help them.
Again, with the rising demand and need for small businesses to engage with customers online, especially mobile, there are business ideas that will help these people struggling. An online conversion specialist company would involve helping people convert their online traffic visitors into sales.
Similar to the web designer business idea, this is a low-cost idea that could be executed on with just a computer and knowledge about how to write copy, and generate pages that convert people to buyers. This differs from the web designer business idea because you would primarily be working with companies that have established websites and want to convert their existing traffic into more sales.
With the rise of the smartphone and higher bandwidths of the internet being available, there is growing demand to convert their websites or web apps into native mobile applications. This is not an easy process, so this business idea for India would make it easy for business owners.
If you already have knowledge of coding and how to make apps, this would be a low-cost business idea. As well, with the significant amount of programmers one has access to, it would not be hard to find a partner for this business idea to keep things low cost.
As I said before, the Indian government is spending a lot of time and money improving internet access for all. With this support, there is huge potential for growth for providing wifi internet solutions, as mobile phones become faster and customers demand internet everywhere. This company could start low-cost as buying supplies to install wifi routers is quite cheap.
To execute on this business idea you could begin by approaching public malls and areas with a lot of foot traffic, talk to the owners, and see if you can set up a deal to install the wifi hotspots. Once installed, you could make it open access for people to use for free and you could sell the data you get from that. Otherwise, a subscription or per-minute charge could be applied.
IT as a service is a company that provides all the server and hardware space that other companies can outsource. This is becoming extremely popular due to the high level of IT professionals that can handle managing the hardware and equipment.
This business is low-cost, starting with only having a few servers, computers, and pieces of technology to outsource to your first customers. As you grow and grow, the company could continue to buy more supplies. This is also a great business idea for India because of the cheap equipment that can be acquired to use in the IT company.
There is continued growth in exports and imports as international trade grows. To assist in this growth, you could start a company that helps other Indian companies expand their enterprises globally by providing your expertise and knowledge about shipping and handling products worldwide.
This idea is going to keep growing in popularity as the business grows. Another approach to this would be to help businesses in other countries conduct trade in India. Startup costs could be low at the beginning with a background in international trade.
There will be a time when it is necessary for multiple doctors in different locations to access one’s medical records. For instance, one patient may use a doctor for a while, then move and switch doctors due to a closer location. Then there is the hassle of starting a new medical file or fetching the previous one from the doctor, which could never happen.
This company would set up medical records that could be securely and efficiently shared between registered doctors. The great thing is that the patients and doctors would be able to see who last accessed their files. Because blockchain technology is quite new, and the amount of health records is massive, this company would take some sizeable investment to create. However, with any big investment comes the potential for big returns.
The rise in mobile phone use also creates a lot of opportunities to help people in times of need. The Disaster Relief Location Finder would use sensors all over the highest buildings, along with ones running on tectonic plates, and areas prone to hurricanes. This way, when signs of a disaster start to appear, the sensors would detect it and send messages to the users to take appropriate action.
Secondly, it would send out a location signal to everyone in your family so they know where you are in case a disaster strikes. The app itself would not need that much investment to create, however, the setup of the sensors would be the costly part. To make money, you could charge a subscription service, as it provides peace of mind for people in disasters.
In 2016, Vinyl records hit an all-time high for sales EVER in their history. This shows that there is a strong niche market.
For this company, one would set up a small shop or warehouse to develop and print vinyl records. There are not many people that do this so providing this could serve a great niche audience. Investment for this would be related to machines that could do this. If you are interested in the music industry, this is a great business idea for India.
Continuing with the e-commerce trend and the vinyl records trend, this online vinyl records store would sell rare or popular vinyl records. If you could find a manufacturer in India somewhere, you would be able to get cheap records and sell them for higher prices worldwide. This is a low-cost business idea that almost anyone could execute on if they had a passion for vinyl records.
Peer-to-peer lending is a great business model because it can help communities and people who need loans the most, as well it does not cost a significant amount to start. There is strong demand for this because not everyone wants or can access the bank for a loan, so the peer-to-peer lending platform is great.
Investors would put their money up for loans and receive a great interest rate. It is an alternative investment firm. To execute, you would begin by building a safe a secure platform where people could upload their money and a way for users to create profiles with accurate credit scores.
Land is becoming a scarce resource as the population and city densities grow. This has created the problem of providing fresh vegetables and fruits to communities in a cost-effective and sustainable manner. By building greenhouses that are vertical, like a skyscraper, with multiple levels of different fruit and vegetables, one could harvest produce for a city or town using a building.
This would eliminate transport costs, allow for fresher food, and take up less space than the traditional farm. Additionally, over time robots could manage each level of the facility, in conjunction with sensors to monitor temperature, humidity, etc, to grow the perfect produce.
This is a high-cost idea because a building would need to be bought, however, it would provide a lot of great value to the community and could generate a lot of money in the long run.
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Disclaimer: The content on this page is for information purposes only and does not constitute legal, tax, or accounting advice. If you have specific questions about any of these topics, seek the counsel of a licensed professional.
Written by Team ZenBusiness
ZenBusiness has helped people start, run, and grow over 700,000 dream companies. The editorial team at ZenBusiness has over 20 years of collective small business publishing experience and is composed of business formation experts who are dedicated to empowering and educating entrepreneurs about owning a company.
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