Tomorrow Is Going To Be Yet Another Day

Myriad repercussions might redefine India’s startup ecosystem in a post pandemic world

- Rajat Mishra

It was not long ago when a professor of entrepreneurship at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, speaking to an international English daily said that the 2008 global financial crisis was all about eliminating the weak and survival of the strongest.

Fast forward 2020—the world is grappling with a brand-new challenge that has shaken the root of human survival and livelihood. The novel coronavirus or COVID-19 has wreaked havoc, transcending the boundaries cast, creed, color and of course geopolitical barriers.

This invisible enemy has brought global economies to a screeching halt and put the world under lockdown. India is no exception. In an effort to fight COVID-19, a country with 130 billion population has been put under lockdown for a second term. Needless to say, with daily economic activity coming to a standstill, pay cuts, layoffs, and even smaller organizations, especially startups completely shutting down.

As a developing economy, India had endured several hardships – from the 1991 economic crisis owing to swelling imports to the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) of 2008. However, if we compare them with the current situation, nothing seems to match up to the magnitude of the impact of the novel coronavirus or COVID-19.

While the country’s robust startup ecosystem had shown some real signs of growth and promising future, the sudden wave of the deadly virus has jolted the very base of India’s startup scene.