India’s start-up ecosystem will continue to grow & thrive amid the pandemic: Arun Pandey

Shrugging off the disruptions of last year, businesses and agencies are looking for a strong revival in 2021. Adgully – as part of our annual TRENDING NOW endeavour – has been presenting the strategies and views of a cross-section of industry leaders as they go about reclaiming lost time and market opportunities and build for a stronger future, armed with the lessons of 2020.

In conversation with Adgully, Arun Pandey, Chairman & MD, Rhiti Group, speaks about the driving factors of growth in the Indian start-up ecosystem amid the pandemic situations. He also sheds light on how the sports sector forged a deeper and more meaningful connection with the fans in these challenging times.

Outlook for 2021

The gradual decrease in the number of active cases at the start of this year ignited hope within the sports industry. The return of major sports events such as ISL and BCCI announcing IPL in India acted as a sigh of relief for all of us and provided us with the hope that things might finally become normal again. 

With things slowly getting back normal, we expected the consumers’ belief to return, but with the country reeling under the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic and the sudden rise in the number of COVID-19 cases, the entire sports industry has yet been clouded with uncertainty.

As far as the Indian start-up ecosystem is concerned, it will continue to grow and thrive, owing to progressive Government policies and the mature and yet favourable ecosystem present in India. The various interventions which have been taken up by the Government of India, such as simplifying regulations, providing income tax exemptions, setting up schemes such as Startup India Seed Fund Scheme (SISFS) for providing financial assistance to these start-ups will ensure the growth of India’s start-up industry.

Great expectations

With the roll-out of Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin and Oxford – AstraZeneca’s Covishield vaccines, we expect ease in restrictions as the year goes ahead.

The significant upsurge in the fans’ appetite to stay connected with their teams and their favourite athletes has provided a unique yet extremely profitable opportunity to forge a deeper and more meaningful connection with the fans. To achieve this, organisations have come up with interesting ideas such as conducting fan engagement campaigns through social media such as live trivia, photo contests, Instagram or Facebook Live Q&As with athletes, and fun TikTok hashtag challenges. Demand for such content will continue to strive for years to come.

Another new facet of sports that will continue to evolve is E-Sports. During the pandemic, e-sports titles such as PlayerUnknown’s BattleGround (PUBG), Call of Duty, DoTA 2 saw an impressive surge of almost 50% in terms of their demand. The consumption for content based on e-sports also saw a sizeable increase of 50%. India’s E-Sports industry is also expected to grow significantly in the future. 

When it comes to start-ups, the ones associated with EdTech, health & wellbeing, deep tech such as AI & Machine Learning, AR, VR, SaaS (Software as a Service), e-commerce and consumer tech will continue to see significant growth during 2021. The widespread adoption of digitalisation will continue to flourish. With the Government opening up the space sector for private players, accompanied by the various initiatives from ISRO such as the SEED PROGRAM, will ensure to provide our start-up industry with an entirely new realm to work.

Key learnings from 2020

2020 was a year filled with upheavals and unprecedented challenges. COVID-19 was more like a wildfire that spread across the world, leaving behind nothing else except for destruction in its wake. During the pandemic, the entire economy was affected, however the sports industry turned out to be one of the most vulnerable sectors. To address this and to ensure their very survival, various players of the industry came up with out-of-the-box ideas, which included everything – from creating conversations on social media to conducting fan engagement campaigns with exclusive prizes. The pandemic helped us realise the true power of digital content and social media. It helped us to widen our portfolio and explore better ways to stay connected with our consumers.

The start-up industry also faced various formidable challenges – both from business and operations’ perspectives. Most start-ups witnessed a significant decline in their supply and demand except for the ones which were associated with emergency services, gaming, online streaming and education. There was a significant decline in investments too, which resulted in posing a major challenge for sourcing funds and this further led to a significant cash crunch.

However, at the same time, the pandemic also helped start-ups build a more adaptive and cohesive supply chain. It helped them to identify different ways to tackle or overcome the cash crunch and most of all, it helped in boosting the digitalisation process, which will be a huge plus point for the entire Indian economy.