Top 10 Young Entrepreneurs in India

India is an energy house today and it is youth like you. Increasingly, they are not waiting to get a safe 9-to-5 job. They are making their own jobs. The traditional notion of success–simply coming to work to earn a regular pay–is archaic. The young people are writing a different story today- a story of passion, new ideas and a lot of courage.

This is not just a money-making thing. It is about the solving of real-life problems, the transformation of ideas into something practical, and leaving a trace in the world. The example is a teenager who created an application in his room or a student who dropped out of college and founded a billion-dollar corporation. Their life experiences surround us and they show that age is merely a number when you pursue a dream. Consider this article your guide. You will get to know the young entrepreneurs in India, discover what ideas are burning, and how you can set out on your own adventure as well. Okay, we will be inspired.

Who is Considered Young Entrepreneurs in India?

What is a young entrepreneur? In India, the person who initiates and operates a business is, most often, younger than 35. It is an attitude thing rather than an age thing.

A young entrepreneur sees a need and a novel solution. They are risk takers and are ready to fail. They have been brought up on technology and they use social media, apps and the internet to develop their businesses. They are not bound by old, traditional ways of doing things and their ideas are fresh. They may be a college kid with an online store out of a hostel room or a 20-something who founded a technology company and transformed the way we live. Simply put, they are the creators and disrupters of our generation.

Top 10 Young Entrepreneurs in India

Let us know about the origin of their first names. They are individuals that began with little and dreamt big and their lives are motivating.

1. Farrhad Acidwalla

Farrhad Acidwalla began his entrepreneurial career as a teen with a big idea. When he was 13, he requested his parents to give him 10 dollars so that he can purchase an online domain name to create an aviation-related community. He constructed and sold this community later at a good profit and this made him passionate about the digital world. During his adolescence, he trained himself in web development, branding and marketing.

He did not take a conventional academic path, but rather dove into the business world. He started his own business, a digital marketing and media agency called Rockstah Media at the age of 16, where he applied his self-taught knowledge, and today he is recognized among the Top Young Entrepreneurs in India.

• Company Name & Industry: Rockstah Media & CYBERNETIV | Digital Marketing & Web Development
• Year Founded & Location: 2009 | Mumbai, Maharashtra
• Achievements & Milestones: CNN labelled him as one of the most promising young entrepreneurs in India. His work has appeared in numerous publications and he has delivered TEDx talks. He is a high profile figure in the digital marketing world.
• Business Description: Rockstah Media is a complete digital agency. It assists companies in web development, branding, marketing and advertising. Farrahad and his team have been serving clients across a variety of industries, including corporations, media houses, and celebrities, to create and enhance their online presence. His latest project, CYBERNETIV, is devoted to innovative web development.
• Funding: The company is bootstrapped.
• Website: https://www.farrhad.com/

2. Arjun Deshpande

Arjun Deshpande is a young business person who is interested in making healthcare affordable to all Indians. He started working at the age of 16. He had witnessed numerous individuals who could not afford to purchase the costly branded drugs and he had to do something. He did his research on the pharmaceutical business and realized there were large price differences between these branded drugs and generic drugs, despite the fact that they both had the same ingredients and were equally effective. His study informed him that the problem was mostly because of low awareness and low accessibility.

That is why he introduced Generic Aadhaar. This business venture provides high quality generic drugs and bypasses middlemen and significantly reduces prices. The first investor in him was his mother, and today he is often mentioned among the Top 10 Young Entrepreneurs in India for his impactful work in healthcare.

Also Read: Pharma Companies in India

• Company Name & Industry: Generic Aadhaar | Pharmaceuticals / Healthcare
• Year Founded & Location: 2018 | Thane, Maharashtra
• Achievements & Milestones: Real Medicine Foundation received support of a renowned industrialist, Ratan Tata. Generic Aadhaar used the money to increase the franchise network to over 2,000 stores in India. Due to this fact, it is now reaching a lot of people.
• Business Description: The model of generic Aadhaar is a pharmacy aggregator. The company purchases generic drugs directly to WHO-GMP certified factories and sells them to its franchise retail chain. This allows them to sell medicines at up to 80 percent lower prices than the branded ones, and this has made healthcare available to millions.
• Funding: Ratan Tata gave an undisclosed sum of money to the company.
• Website: https://genericaadhaar.com/

3. Trishneet Arora

Trishneet Arora demonstrates that enthusiasm can prevail over any educational background. He quit school in eighth grade after failing his exams. Computers and ethical hacking were his true talents. His parents were initially concerned, but they later realized that he was a gifted child. Trishneet learned to become an ethical hacker and authored books on the same. He also conducted training to law-enforcement groups such as the CBI and state police forces.

In a digital world, security was not a luxury but a necessity; Trishneet was well aware of this. His profound knowledge led to his realization of a massive market demand: robust cybersecurity solutions for businesses. He started TAC Security at the age of 19 and is now counted among the most inspiring Young Entrepreneurs in India.

• Company Name & Industry: TAC Security | Cybersecurity
• Year Founded & Location: 2013 | Mohali, Punjab
• Achievements & Milestones: Listed as Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia and Fortune 40 Under 40. His firm offers security services to governments and fortune 500 firms. He is a popular cybersecurity speaker.
• Business Description: TAC Security is a multinational cybersecurity firm assisting companies to defend themselves against online attacks and data compromises. They provide a service known as ESOF (Enterprise Security in One Framework) that assists organizations to control their vulnerabilities and enhance their digital security. Simply put, they are the digital bodyguards of large companies.
• Funding: TAC Security has been funded by a veteran stock market investor Vijay Kedia and has received undisclosed funds in its pre-series A funding.
• Website: https://tacsecurity.com/

4. Aadit Palicha

Another 22-year-old prodigy who has once again stirred the Indian startup world is Aadit Palicha, the CEO and co-founder of Zepto. Aadit is a student at Stanford University like his co-founder Kaivalya. His interest in entrepreneurship pre-dates Zepto as he had already attempted it with a teen carpooling app called GoPool. As the COVID-19 lockdown demonstrated massive deficiencies in India in the delivery infrastructure, Aadit found a golden opportunity.

According to him, consumers did not only require online delivery, but immediate delivery. This is what made him quit Stanford to go back to India and start Zepto. Aadit is the CEO of the company and steers its strategy, growth, and vision, making it aggressively expand in the competitive quick-commerce market, and he is now recognized among the Top Young Entrepreneurs in India.

Also Read: Zepto Franchise

• Company Name & Industry: Zepto | Quick Commerce / E-commerce
• Year Founded & Location: 2021 | Mumbai, Maharashtra
• Achievements & Milestones: He launched a unicorn company in two years. He has now become one of the youngest and richest self-made entrepreneurs of India. He has also contributed to the development of the rapid commerce environment in the nation.
• Business Description: Zepto is a mobile-first platform that brings thousands of products, including fresh produce, dairy, snacks, and household items to customers in less than 10 minutes. Zepto provides customers with unparalleled speed and convenience by streamlining every process in the supply chain and utilising a network of dark stores.
• Funding: Zepto has secured more than 560 million dollars in a variety of marquee investors.
• Website: https://www.zeptonow.com/

5. Tilak Mehta

Tilak Mehta faced a simple day-to-day problem when he needed to get some books delivered to another part of Mumbai, but could not find a good, cheap, same-day delivery service. His father used to get home late after work and the courier companies were not fast and affordable enough to deliver small, intra-city parcels. Tilak saw an opportunity. He discussed the idea with his uncle, who assisted him in developing it. Tilak envisioned a logistics system that would employ the services of the well-known Mumbai-based Dabbawalas, who have a very efficient and fast food delivery system.

His idea was to have them deliver parcels in between their dabbas and use their idle time as an additional source of income—a win-win situation. Today, he is counted among the Top 10 Young Entrepreneurs in India for his innovative approach to logistics.

• Company Name & Industry: Papers N Parcels (PNP) | Logistics & Courier Services
• Founded: 2018 | Mumbai, Maharashtra
• Achievements & Milestones: At the age of 13, became one of the youngest entrepreneurs in India. He has won a number of awards and is considered a prodigy with his innovative business model which empowers the Dabbawala community.
• Business description: Papers N Parcels is a digital courier business that provides same-day, intra-city delivery of small packages and documents. It also has a mobile-based booking system and the extensive network of Dabbawalas in Mumbai to complete the last-mile delivery. It offers an effective, efficient and cost effective solution.
• Funding: Tilak started the venture with an initial investment by his uncle and it is said to be profitable.
• Social Media: He is active on platforms like LinkedIn.

6. Kaivalya Vohra

Kaivalya Vohra is just 22 years old but he features in the Hurun India Rich List. Kaivalya did his computer science course at Stanford University after studying at Bengaluru. He enjoys new technology and enjoys challenging problems. In the pandemic, he saw flaws in the grocery-delivery system in India. He and his friend Aadit Palicha went about to rectify this. Kaivalya dropped out of Stanford to start the company Zepto. He is the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and he strategizes and manages technology and supply-chain logistics of the company.

• Company Name & Industry: Zepto | Quick Commerce / E-commerce
• Year Founded & Location: 2021 | Mumbai, Maharashtra
• Achievements & Milestones: Zepto is the first quick-commerce unicorn in India, and the company made India the youngest billionaire and co-founder. In November 2021, the startup became a unicorn only two years after its inception.
• Business Description: Zepto is a fast-commerce app that will bring groceries and daily essentials to your doorstep within 10 minutes. It operates on a network of strategically placed dark stores or micro-warehouses in cities. In this model, inventory is brought near the customer and the delivery is incredibly swift.
• Funding: Zepto has received over $560 million in investments by investors such as Y Combinator, Glade Brook Capital and StepStone Group.
• Website: https://www.zeptonow.com/

7. Shravan & Sanjay Kumaran

The youngest app developers and entrepreneurial twins are Shravan (24) and Sanjay (22) Kumaran, who are Chennai-based. They demonstrated an interest in technology at a young age and learned their first programming language in elementary school. Their father, a director in a technology company, supported their passion by providing computers and resources. Instead of just playing games, they began creating them. At the ages of 12 and 10 respectively, they had already developed several mobile applications that made it to the App Store.

Their enthusiasm for coding and their teamwork enabled them to convert a hobby into a serious business venture, leading them to start their own company, GoDimensions—all while still in school. Today, they stand out as inspiring Young Entrepreneurs in India, motivating a new generation of student coders.

• Company Name & Industry: GoDimensions | Mobile App Development
• Year Founded & Location: 2012 | Chennai, Tamil Nadu
• Achievements & Milestones: Apple dubbed them as the youngest Mobile Application Programmers in India. They have developed over a dozen applications which have been downloaded thousands of times. They are also the speakers in popular conferences such as TEDx and have been interviewed in numerous national and international media sources.
• Business description: GoDimensions is a mobile application development firm that is owned and operated by two brothers. They create various types of applications, such as games and educational ones, utility programs. They want to make easy to use apps that can either solve a problem or entertain, and they want to become a tech company that is known worldwide, but they are based in India.
• Funding: The company is bootstrapped (self-funded).
• Website: http://www.godimensions.com/

8. Sreelakshmi Suresh

Sreelakshmi Suresh of Kozhikode, Kerala, is a web-designing genius who started at an unbelievably early age. At just three years old, she showed an interest in computers, and by the age of four, she was already designing. At six, she created her first webpage. Her gift was evident, and her parents encouraged her to pursue it fully. By the age of 10, she formalized her passion and established her own web design company, eDesign, making her perhaps the youngest CEO in the world.

Her example is a reminder that there is no age restriction on talent and that with proper support and commitment, young minds can accomplish extraordinary things. Today, she is widely celebrated as one of the Top Young Entrepreneurs in India, proving that childhood dreams can indeed grow into successful careers.

• Company Name & Industry: eDesign | Web Design
• Year Founded & Location: 2009 | Kozhikode, Kerala
• Achievements & Milestones: Sreelakshmi is a renowned web designer. The Government of India honoured her with the National Child Award for Exceptional Achievement and she was called the World’s Youngest CEO and the World’s Youngest Web Designer.
• Business Description: Her firm, eDesign, is a web design and mobile application development company. eDesign assists companies and organizations to design professional and quality websites. Sreelakshmi is the chief designer and she contributes her own creative perspective to each project to ensure each client has a global digital presence.
• Funding: The business is financed by itself.

9. Advait Thakur

Advait Thakur is a tech entrepreneur and computer programmer who began to stir up a fuss in the technology sphere when he was still a teenager. He started to work with computers when he was six years old, created his first web site when he was nine and at the age of twelve he started to work on Google AI and Cloud Platform. Advait is a self-taught programmer and digital solutions expert who hails out of Mumbai. At the tender age of 14 years, he established his company, Apex Infosys India, with an aim to provide digital solutions to a worldwide clientele. He also created an app called Technological Quiz, an app that was aimed at making kids learn about science and technology and gained a lot of traction. He is a big supporter of technology in the service of society and has been considered a tech genius.

• Company Name and Industry: Apex Infosys India | IT Services and Digital Solutions
• Founded: 2017 | Mumbai, Maharashtra
• Achievements & Milestones: Featured in the list of the “Top 10 Young Entrepreneurs In India” by various publications. He is among the youngest entrepreneurs and computer programmers in the globe. He has collaborated with companies such as Google and has been credited as having contributed to the digital environment.
• Business Description: Apex Infosys India is mainly a digital agency which offers services in Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and IoT. Its services and solutions include web development and digital marketing, among other IT services and solutions, and it focuses on assisting businesses to use technology to grow and become more efficient.
• Funding: The company is bootstrapped.
• Website: https://www.apexinfosys.in/

10. Ritesh Agarwal

Ritesh Agarwal, who is now approximately 31 years old, is famous for having shaken the hotel industry in India. He was brought up in a small town in Odisha and is a hardworking man with large ambitions. As a teenager, he enjoyed business so much that he established a stall where he began selling SIM cards. He left school at the age of 17 to become an entrepreneur, a move many considered strange but which turned out to be a massive success. Ritesh toured India and stayed in cheap hotels along the way. This personal experience revealed to him a huge gap: there were hardly any standard, good, and affordable accommodation facilities. That observation became the billion-dollar hotel enterprise he operates today.

He received assistance through the Thiel Fellowship, an initiative founded by PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, which provided him with $100,000 to develop his concept. Today, Ritesh is regarded as one of the Top 10 Young Entrepreneurs in India, having transformed the hospitality industry with OYO Rooms.

• Company Name & Industry: OYO Rooms (On Your Own Rooms) | Hospitality & Travel Tech
• Year Founded & Location: 2013 | Gurugram, Haryana
• Achievements & Milestones: Aditya is currently among the youngest self-made billionaires in the world. He has expanded OYO to over 80 nations such as the USA, China, and the UK. OYO has become one of the biggest hotel chains globally in terms of the number of rooms. He is a Forbes Asia 30 Under 30 honoree.
• Business Description: OYO collaborates with independent hotel owners to standardise their hotels with amenities such as free Wi-Fi, clean linen, and modern washrooms. It then features these hotels on its app and site, providing travellers with reliable and affordable accommodation. OYO uses technology to control booking, operation, and customer experience.
• Funding: OYO has received a total of more than $4 billion in funding by large investors such as SoftBank, Sequoia Capital, and Airbnb.
• Website: https://www.oyorooms.com/

Government Schemes & Support for Young Entrepreneurs in India

The startup culture is being promoted by the Indian government. The principal programs are as follows:

• Startup India Initiative: It is the flagship program by the government. It provides such advantages as the tax exemption during the first three years, the ease of paperwork, and connection to a network of investors and mentors.
• Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana (PMMY): This scheme is to offer loans of up to 10 lakh to non-corporate, small businesses. It is ideal for beginners. The loans are provided by commercial banks and they are not secured.
• Make in India: A project to invite companies to produce their goods in India. This campaign can support and give visibility to your business idea in case it is a manufacturing one.
• Atal Innovation Mission (AIM): This initiative is meant to establish an innovative and entrepreneurial culture. It also establishes the so-called Atal Incubation Centers all over the country to assist start-ups with the required resources, mentorship, and funding.

Challenges Faced by Young Entrepreneurs in India

It is not easy to start a business, it is thrilling. The following are some of the typical obstacles:

• Inadequate Funds: The first money may be the most difficult to get.
• Tough Competition: India is a massive market and with virtually every idea, there is competition.
• Family & Societal Pressure: There is also a lot of pressure on young entrepreneurs in India by the family to take up a more secure profession.
• Inexperience and Mentorship: You will lack a mentor to guide you and thus you might make mistakes that you could have avoided.
• Bureaucracy: The process of registering a company, taxes and other legalities may be confusing and time consuming.
• Balancing Act: When you are a student, it can be very hectic to combine business and studies.

Tips for Young Entrepreneurs in India to Succeed

Want to begin business? Do this in the following way:

• Solve an actual problem: Create a business that serves people in a manner in which they desire.
• Start small: You do not require an ideal product or a large office. Start with Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and refine it with feedback.
• Find an advisor: Study under a person who has already done it. They have invaluable advice.
• Develop a good network: Network with other entrepreneurs, investors and industry professionals. Your network is more valuable than money in the bank.
• Embrace failure: All ideas will not be successful. Treat failure as a lesson not as the end.
• Learn to master digital skills: Get to know the fundamentals of digital marketing, social media, and SEO. It is vital to reach customers nowadays.

Conclusion

Its youngest, brightest are shaping the business scene in India. Ritesh, Kaivalya, Trishneet, and other youths depict what is going on in India nowadays. Their narrations remind us about a country in which youths are fearless, creative and eager to create the future.

Being an entrepreneur is hard, but the fruits of the labor, making something new, solving problems, and making a difference, are invaluable. It is an increasingly powerful support system. Therefore, when you are not able to sleep because of some idea, you should not neglect it. Cultivate it, develop it, make that initial step. And your next big success story may be yours!

FAQs

At what age should one start business?  

It does not matter what age you are so long as you have a good idea and the energy to implement it. Others begin when they are teenagers and others wait until they get work experience.  

Do I require a lot of money to start a business?  

No. Most of the businesses that have been successful in business and most particularly online businesses can be ventured into with minimal investment. The trick is to begin with a little and expand as you go along.  

Should an entrepreneur have a college degree?  

No. Although a degree can impart useful knowledge and skills, it is not necessary to be successful. Most of the successful entrepreneurs such as Ritesh Agarwal are college dropouts. What counts more are passion, skills and determination.  

What is the way to get a mentor?  

To get mentors, you may go to startup events, join online entrepreneurship groups (e.g. on LinkedIn or Facebook), or contact more experienced people in your field to ask them to mentor you. Do not be shy to seek assistance!