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> Before they could build enough scale to reach profitability, the startups ran into obstacles familiar to Indian companies: red tape, unpredictable regulators

• philipov 2y ago
  Except for the Intense Competition part. We could use more of that, not less.
  • kolbe 2y ago
    What do you mean? It's an intensely competitive process to get approved by the VC mafia, who then get to dictate which space you get to monopolize
• manishsharan 2y ago
  BYJU was a fucking scam from the get go . It preyed upon the insecurities of the Indian parent. Paytm : maybe UPI becoming a standard in Indian banking has something to do with it. UPI is a good thing.
  • pritambarhate 2y ago
    Paytm: Here the issue was that they were not meeting RBI (Reserve Bank of India) compliance for their banking license. So RBI revoked their banking license which prohibits them to process UPI transactions by themselves. So this causes a massive exodus of UPI users from PayTM app. Later PayTM partnered with some other bank and resumed those services again.
  • blntechie 2y ago
    Byju's was perplexing as almost every customer of theirs and the target customers knew what Byju's was doing except those in the board, the VC analysts and LPs.
    • kamaal 2y ago
      Most Indian kids who could possibly buy Byju's products, could already afford 1 - 1 tuition. That is after a full day's school work, which in itself is a lot given the sheer gruelling regimen the kids go through- Having to work through class work, home work, unit and term tests. Many schools also offer integrated JEE curriculum and testing. It was a scam from the very beginning. Its like selling videos of tourist spots to people who can actually go to those places and see it themselves.
• sofixa 2y ago
  > founders’ eagerness to prioritize growth over the sustainability of their business models. Isn't that prevalent in SV?
  • addicted 2y ago
    All the points are prevalent other than the red tape. But it’s not clear at all that red tape has anything to do with the problems these companies are facing. Considering that several of the companies mentioned in the article have corporate governance issue, arguably the problem is a lack of regulation. Or at least a lack of good regulation and/or implementation of the regulation, as opposed to red tape.
    • kamaal 2y ago
      The biggest problem in India is thinking they can permanently buy customer loyalty by offering big discounts in the beginning. This is where the 'intense competition' is dangerous part comes from. After you have spent billions on subsidising prices for the customer, newer companies come, and do the same. The customers see no issues in now buying from the newer companies. The older companies find themselves in a hard position with no profits and big debts. In India customers are loyal to only one thing 'cheap prices'. Thats all there is to this story. Many times even if there is no real competition, you are often competing with the customers mindset itself.
      • kelipso 2y ago
        Yeah profiting after getting network effect or monopoly or growth is a function of customer inertia in the face of rising prices. And India has way lower inertia to than US.
      • MichaelZuo 2y ago
        How does this explain the phenomena of e.g. Repeat Mercedes-Benz buyers, even when other automakers offer the same luxury features at a lower price point (such ad Audi, BMW, etc...) ?
• blntechie 2y ago
  > red tape I would attribute red tape to only fintech companies. Ideally edtech should have had redtape considering how much rampant these VC funded companies ran riot. Also, SV has these red tapes too. Bloom Tech -> California BoE anyone? Red tapes are not always a bad thing for the consumers, maybe for those following grow fast and break model.