Entrepreneurship in India

The Economist has an article about a business competition to find the country's hottest startup (HT). They are a talented group, and the article says 75% are first time entrepreneurs. Also:

Two-thirds of the final 30 have masters degrees. In short, they have plenty of options. Their enthusiasm for entrepreneurship represents a growing willingness on the part of highly educated Indians to turn their backs on careers in brand-name companies and strike out on their own. “In my early years, your business card was very important,” says Kanwal Singh, one of the competition’s advisers.

The story is here, and while most of the entries are computer based, the article focuses on one entrepreneur who is remaking the rickshaw world.

This is a healthy, though surprising development. India is among the worst for ease of starting a business and is ranked 121 on the World Bank's 2009 Doing Business Survey. Even worse, in 2008 it was 114 so generally it's nice to see some indication that not everything in India is moving in the wrong direction.