Youth Entrepreneurship in Indian Scenario

Governments and local communities across the world have recognized that key to building prosperity and stimulate regional growth is fostering entrepreneurship among their people especially youth. Youth entrepreneurship has become a topic of interest for research scholars and also a subject of major concern for the Government. While youth entrepreneurship is an under-explored field, the main factor for its growing attention is the increased number of unemployed young people. Furthermore entrepreneurship is seen as a channel for the talents of many highly educated young people to explore their potential and cash their business acumen. By 2015, World Bank estimates that there will be about 3 billion youths less than 25 years old and a big portion of that will be in India. Many young people cannot find employment. This has become particularly acute since the education explosion in early 2000's and onset of the financial crisis in 2008. These outcomes are both inefficient and inequitable. Evidence shows that the unemployed are unhappier, more likely to experience a range of health issues, and face difficulties in integrating back into the labour market place (Bell & Blanchflower, 2009). For young people, the effects of unemployment may be particularly scarring. Evidence suggests that a spell of youth unemployment increases the likelihood of poorer wages and unemployment in later life (Blanchflower & Oswald, 1998). Such outcomes also have pronounced social costs. It represents a loss of potential output and leads to increased costs to the taxpayer apart from causing social disruptions. One potential way of integrating young people into the global economy is to increase youth entrepreneurship1. The objective of this research paper is simple - to understand youth entrepreneurship and its role with focus on Indian scenario.