2 days ago
Casebook to capital: Startups fuelling learning!
Company Secretary Author- The Unblinking Eye! and Walking The Rainbow of Life! Blogger- Times of India.
In 2025, India emerges not just as an economic powerhouse but as a living, breathing laboratory of entrepreneurship. With over 159,000 startups officially recognised by DPIIT, India stands proudly as the third-largest startup ecosystem in the world, after the United States and China. This startup boom isn't merely a marker of economic vitality—it's becoming an innovative pedagogical tool in commerce education. Universities and colleges are now embedding live startup case studies into their curriculum, transforming chalkboard theories into boardroom-ready insights.
The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 laid the groundwork for this transformation. By 2025, these reforms are crystallising into mandates: the University Grants Commission (UGC) now requires 'Innovation and Entrepreneurship' as a core component in undergraduate commerce programs. In response, institutions are using Indian startup case studies, not only in digital textbooks but also within assignments, assessments, and incubator-linked learning models.
India's government has strategically fuelled this entrepreneurial wave. The Startup India initiative, launched in 2016, continues to simplify compliance, provide tax holidays, and extend equity support through a Rs 10,000 crore Fund of Funds. Complementing this, the Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) has enabled innovation at the school and college level, with over 10,000 Atal Tinkering Labs and 72 Atal Incubation Centres (AICs) across the country.
The latest leap forward is the Startup India Digital Platform 2.0, introduced in 2025. This AI-enabled portal serves as a central hub for investor matchmaking, IP support in regional languages, and dynamic compliance tracking, setting a global benchmark for digital ease of doing business.
Meanwhile, the Union Budget 2024–25 introduced the National Credit Guarantee Scheme for Startups, offering collateral-free loans and government-backed risk mitigation, especially tailored to first-time and underrepresented founders. This marks a shift toward systemic democratisation of entrepreneurial opportunity.
India's startup scene today is a mosaic of sectors—fintech, healthtech, agritech, and deep tech—each pushing boundaries. Take fintech: UPI processed over Rs 18.41 trillion in transactions in January 2024 alone, exemplifying real-time innovation at scale. In healthtech, AI-led diagnostics and remote patient care are becoming the norm. Agritech players are closing the rural-urban divide with blockchain-led supply chains and IoT-based crop analytics. The rise of fabless chip design startups, backed by the Rs 76,000 crore Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme, is putting India on the semiconductor map, with applications in electric mobility, defence, and 5 G. As of 2025, over 40 such ventures have emerged, offering a deep dive into DeepTech education.
What's even more significant: more than 55% of startups now emerge from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities like Coimbatore, Surat, and Bhubaneswar. This decentralisation of innovation is redefining economic geography, and commerce students must study it to understand India's future.
Case studies that make commerce come alive
Udaan: Rewriting B2B playbooks
Udaan, the Bengaluru-based B2B commerce platform, recently raised $114 million to solidify its presence in sectors like FMCG and staples. Its technology-driven disruption of traditional wholesale supply chains makes it a masterclass in logistics, procurement strategy, and digital distribution models.
Sarvam AI: Building Bharat's own AI
Sarvam AI has built a powerful multilingual LLM, Sarvam-M, trained across Indian languages. While some reports claim it has up to 24 billion parameters, its exact size varies across public sources and may be closer to 13B. Regardless, its applications in education, automation, and local governance spark debates on AI localization, model ethics, and scalability in emerging markets.
Ringg AI: Voice tech for the masses
Ringg AI, launched in 2023, offers a no-code conversational AI platform that lets businesses build multilingual voice agents for customer engagement. While its expansion into Middle Eastern and Latin American markets is in progress and not yet fully public, its strategy in international deployment offers lessons in cross-cultural product adaptation and lean market entry.
Exit lessons from startup M&A
India's startup ecosystem is no longer just about creation—it's maturing through strategic exits. According to PwC India's Q1 2025 report, startup M&A deals rose by approximately 43% year-on-year, signalling consolidation. Notable examples include PharmEasy's acquisition of D2C health brands and Cred's integration of AI analytics firms—rich territory for finance and strategy students exploring valuation models, synergies, and exit dynamics.
Startup Mahakumbh 2024: Learning in action
The Startup Mahakumbh, held in December 2024, was a watershed moment. With 2,000+ startups, it catalysed investment declarations worth over Rs 1,000 crore and forged partnerships between entrepreneurs and academia. Institutions like IIT Delhi and IIM Ahmedabad announced live-project integration into their coursework. This convergence of the classroom and the boardroom redefines 'learning by doing.'
This pedagogical shift signals a clear departure from rote learning. Integrating startup case studies cultivates real-world business intuition—students are now encouraged to evaluate risk, pitch ideas, test business models, and analyse operational bottlenecks through live examples.
The UGC's entrepreneurship education mandate transforms experiential learning from optional to essential. It aligns seamlessly with the mission of Atal Innovation Mission, aiming to unlock creativity and critical thinking right from college.
Incubation networks in emerging cities, such as iCreate in Ahmedabad and AIC-SMU in Sikkim, bring this experience to the grassroots. These hubs aren't just startup nurseries; they're academic collaborators.
The bigger picture: Case study of capitalism as a cultural shift
India's startup ecosystem is no longer peripheral to education—it is the education. By replacing abstract theories with applied innovation, we're witnessing a new model of 'case study capitalism'—where the economy itself becomes the textbook.
With NEP-aligned reforms, digital learning platforms, and government-industry-academia coalitions, commerce education in India is entering its most agile and adaptive phase yet. Graduates are no longer just job-seekers—they're problem-solvers, thinkers, and creators. This movement is not just about teaching business—it's about shaping the very business of teaching.
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Views expressed above are the author's own.
