Study on the Transformation in Startup Ecosystem in Rajasthan through Startup Incubation Centres with Special Reference to ‘Startup Oasis’

Introduction Entrepreneurship has been embedded in the Rajasthani genius for ages and these people have proved their mettle in setting up huge business houses in most parts of India and abroad, but Rajasthan. Of late, Rajasthan might have topped the list of hottest junctions for entrepreneurial ventures but it still lacks successful innovation and an efficient entrepreneurial support system. It needs to be understood that entrepreneurial ventures cannot work in a vacuum, they need an entrepreneurial framework in an economy and an entire set of entrepreneurial support system to make them survive their initial years. The outflux of the entrepreneurial talent from the state can also be accorded to the lack of this support system in the state. Studies across the world show that while 66% of new start-ups survive for a year or two after their starting up, the survival rate for such startups reduce to 44% after a period of four years from starting up. An Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) study shows that over 70% of startups wind up their operations by the seventh year of their operations due to either lack of funds or due to insufficient physical or mentoring support. This is where the role of startup incubators become vital in promoting the agenda of entrepreneurship development. In this regard, the role of the Rajasthan's first Startup incubator IIM-A CIIE STARTUP OASIS becomes utterly significant in providing support and solution to the entrepreneurial newbies in Rajasthan through its structured as well as unstructured programmes and handhold them in their startup journey. Objective The research tries to analyse the entrepreneurial space in Rajasthan and takes into account the role and impact of Rajasthan's first startup incubator IIM-A CIIE STARTUP OASIS in the capacity building of entrepreneurial ventures in the state of Rajasthan. Research Methodology This exploratory research is based on the primary as well as secondary data collected from the startup incubator Startup Oasis, its incubatee startups, its co-working startups and its other partner institutes. The data collected through various rounds of elaborative questionnaires and interviews has further been analyzed to make relevant interpretations. The research paper is descriptive in nature. Findings This study makes an attempt to bring forward the fact that the entrepreneurial space in Rajasthan still remains scattered and lags behind in numbers, in spite of having a good-enough pool of entrepreneurs in the state. This study also tries to make a point, that for the development of entrepreneurship in the state, the entrepreneurial drain from the state needs to be checked and the entrepreneurial talent needs to be attracted to the state by providing a conducive entrepreneurial environment. Despite having the scattered entrepreneurial ecosystem in the state, the startup incubator Startup Oasis has managed to trudge the path of entrepreneurship development in the state of Rajasthan, though a lot still needs to be done, and the journey has just started. Conclusion It can be concluded that the incubator Startup Oasis may have spurred growth, but there is no denying that conducive startup ecosystem in the state still remains the biggest missing piece of the Rajasthan's startup puzzle. All in all, it can be said that it's not all doom and gloom for the state of Rajasthan in the entrepreneurial sphere, rather the state has started coming up in numbers in entrepreneurship promotion and the future seems promising.