Two-thirds Indians view entrepreneurship positively: Report

New Delhi, April 19 (IANS) Two-thirds of Indians view entrepreneurship positively, a report by Amway said here on Tuesday.

The India Entrepreneurship Report 2015 by Amway said tangible enthusiasm for entrepreneurship is a good sign to earn a livelihood in India, with nearly two-thirds of the respondents viewing it favourably.

“Kerala (78 percent), Punjab (77 percent) and Uttarakhand (76 percent) were the states with most positive attitude towards entrepreneurship,” the report said.

According to the report, 73 percent believe that anyone can be trained/educated to be an entrepreneur. Nearly 50 percent of respondents are considering to start their own business. About 45 percent of all respondents said that the environment to begin a business in their state has improved over the past five years and 63 percent respondents sighted ‘fear of failure’ as the biggest obstacle in starting one’s own business.

Research partner Nielsen India surveyed 250 households in each of the 21 states across 50 different cities.

One male and one female member in the 21-65 age group were interviewed from each household, taking the total no of respondents to 10,768 individuals.

The report was unveiled by Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy.

“The contribution of MSME sector (micro, small and medium enterprises) in India, is much less as compared to some of the developed nations. This needs to change. It is critical that there is entrepreneurship led boom at the grassroot level so that India can leverage the demographic dividend to the maximum possible extent,” he said.

"The understanding of motivations, attitudes towards entrepreneurship, offers valuable insight to the policy makers," he added.

“We are aiming to engage different stakeholders on what drives entrepreneurship in India and contribute to the ongoing discussions on the role of skill development and self-employment in improving employability of the youth,” Anshu Budhraja, chief executive officer, Amway India, said.