The agriculture industry plays a pivotal role in India’s economy. There have been favourable policies and decisions by the government for promotion of innovation and development in this industry. This area has attracted a huge amount of foreign direct investment and also the recent international tie ups and agreements would lead to some major rise in the agriculture GDP contribution. In the 2017-18 budget, the government has planned several policies and proposed major initiatives for the sustainable development of agriculture. This industry exposes umpteen opportunities for start-ups.

Coal is India’s largest commercial source of primary energy. The recent update on the coal mining sector is the green signal by coal ministry for introduction of private entities into commercial coal mining which is aimed at enhancing domestic production and generate additional revenue for coal- bearing states. Despite latest trends encouraging usage of different modes of energy, in the present Indian context, the importance of coal as a fuel or power resource cannot be underestimated.

This industry influences decision making for other major industries as well. The government of India has allowed 100 percent FDI in many segments of this industry including petroleum products, natural gas, refineries etc. Major developments have taken place in the oil and gas sector owing to India’s large energy needs and the greater prospects anticipated by foreign companies. This sector ensures great opportunities in near future.

The industry accounts for 7.1 per cent of the country’s GDP. According to data released by Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, the industry has attracted FDI worth US$ 15.79 billion during the period April 2000 to September 2016. With the recent technological advancements and foreign brands eyeing the potential demand in the Indian market, this sector is expected to experience a major boost in the near future.

India is the largest provider of generic drugs in the world. With increasing health conditions and lifestyle changes, the domestic market itself is expected to experience a rise in demand for drugs and preventive vaccines. The greatest strength of the Indian pharma rests on the producing cost- efficient drugs.

The textile industry is one of the oldest Indian industries contributing immensely to India’s GDP. The industry has created a unique global recognition for itself. The industry being labour intensive and being the second largest employer, generates millions of job opportunities. There exist great divide in the technology used in the sector with few areas like handloom and handicraft still engaging in traditional techniques of manufacturing and production and the apparels and home décor etc deploying modern machineries for quicker, larger outputs. With a spur in investments in the last five years, the industry is set to experience a major boost due to favourable government schemes and policies and increase in domestic as well as international investments.

India is one of the world’s fastest growing economies and the growth is expected to continue at approximately 7 to 8% annually. This creates tremendous opportunities for the real estate and construction industry. At the same time, it becomes imperative that the government understands that the rapid growth shall not be at an untenable high environmental cost. The government of India has extensive plans of encouraging investments in construction of roads and highways, airports, railways etc. Though the real estate sector saw a fall in the recent past due to various reasons, the sector is expected to grow especially the plan to build 100 smart cities is a prime opportunity for real estate companies.

The Gems and Jewellery industry is one of the fastest growing industry today. It is majorly export oriented and labour intensive. With its unique craftsmanship and low cost skilled labour, the Indian industry is a team player in the world. The government policies and the latest budget also favour this industry thereby ensuring brighter future prospects. The recent trends hint towards India’s recognition as a promising market attracting greater investment both by domestic players as well as global jewellery giants.

The Indian banking system consists of broadly scheduled and non-scheduled banks which can be further commonly categorised into public sector banks, private sector banks, foreign banks, regional rural banks, urban cooperative banks and rural cooperative banks, in addition to cooperative credit institutions. Public-sector banks control nearly 80 percent of the market, thereby leaving comparatively much smaller shares for its private peers. Indian banking industry has recently witnessed tremendous innovation in its operational activities thereby making the entire system more customer friendly. These innovations encourage new banking models like card less transactions, small finance banks, mobile banking, etc. RBI’s new measures may go a long way in helping the restructuring of the domestic banking industry. The latest government schemes and policies are encouraging greater deposits so as to ensure improvised liquidity and lending operations.

India’s life insurance sector is the biggest in the world and the insurance industry plans to hike penetration levels to five per cent by 2020. With the aid of government initiatives and changes in regulatory framework coupled with some major developments and investments lined up in this sector, the future looks quite encouraging for the insurance industry.

With the increasing paying capacity and foreign investors bringing in innovative ideas and a bend towards corporatizations, the demand for luxury facilities has increased manifolds. The industry caters to beyond basic amenities and specialised divisions are being carved out under each organisation to basically address specific customer needs since the demand for fancier services is the recent norm. The latest GST regime has imposed higher taxes and the domestic industry expects stiff competition with neighbouring international tourism industry due to their cost effective competitive tax structures.

The Indian health care industry is witnessing an upsurge due to the increased capital investment and advanced diagnostic facilities, availability of large pool of well trained professionals, increased foreign direct investment and favourable governmental policies. In the 2017-18 Union Budget, the overall health care budget has increased thereby encouraging domestic manufacturers and promoting generic affordable drugs. The recent trend of medical tourism also gaining momentum as India is cost competitive compared to its peers in Asia and Western countries. The cost of surgery in India is about one-tenth of that in the US or Western Europe. This sector has bright prospects of growth and development.

This industry is the backbone of any economy. It is the connector between various industries and consumers. Its growth and development depends on the growth of other sectors. It is proportionately dependent on the infrastructure industry since both work hand in hand and progression of one leads to betterment of the other. The industry is witnessing a shift from the traditional set up to a more innovative, cost effective mode which combines technology and infrastructure to provide faster and reliable services. Yet, the companies will need to invest in automation, while utilising existing resources well.

India is currently the world’s second-largest telecommunications market. Indian telecom industry has witnessed the effects of liberalization and globalization since 1990s and stands tall today as one the most competitive and fastest growing telecom markets. Telecommunication has played a vital role in the socioeconomic development of India and has provided an appreciable mode to narrow down the rural-urban digital divide to some extent. With daily increasing subscriber base, there have been a lot of investments and developments in the sector. The future of this industry is unparalleled.

Power is an indispensible element of growth and development. Whatever the sector or industry it may be, power and energy in different form is the catalyst for economic and industrial advancement. The Government of India has identified power sector as a key sector of focus so as to promote sustained industrial growth. The Government of India launched a scheme called “Power for All” in order to provide adequate electricity by March 2019, thereby accelerating capacity addition. This scheme is aimed at ensuring continuous and uninterrupted electricity supply to all households, industries and commercial establishments by creating and improving necessary infrastructure. This move shall encourage innovation and research and development in the field of power generation using conventional and non-conventional means thereby ensuring sustained industrial development.

The recent trend in the media and entertainment industry has hinted towards a major upsurge especially in the advertising sector. The government of India has been instrumental in the industry’s growth by taking various initiatives and formulating favourable policies for example increasing FDI limit from 74 per cent to 100 percent in DTH satellite platforms and coming up with certain institutional and regulatory frameworks to ensure better access to finances. The union budget 2016-17 had proposed custom duty exemption on newsprint. With internet surpassing other mediums of advertising, television and print are still expected to remain the largest contributors of revenue from advertising.

Education in India has been a witness to numerous changes over the years. India is relatively young and the education sector is imperative to grow. The Government has made a 10% increase in the budget allocation towards education taking the outlay to around Rs. 80,000 crores. Several new IITs, IIMs and AIIMS have established in the past few years and there are many which have been proposed. Rural India remains an unconquered territory for education. With the ambitious ‘Make in India’ programme of the Prime Minister gaining momentum, India shall need skilled jobs in the years to come and education shall play a pivotal role in the same. India is in dire need of good schools, quality colleges and equipped infrastructure to support them. Private universities and colleges have come up in the recent past as a parallel to the state run institutions and have earned their repute. This sector possesses tremendous potential for growth and business.

India is the world’s largest sourcing destination for information technology (IT) industry. IT has provided copious jobs and has put India on the growth engine. Almost every Indian bank offers e-services and encourages plastic money. Indians stand 2nd in ‘facebook’ membership after the US. Perhaps that is the reason Indians rank amongst the top five countries in terms of digitalisation maturity. India has witnessed manifold increase in e-commerce companies and start-ups and cross-border online shopping by Indians is expected to increase 85 per cent in 2017, and total online spending is projected to rise 31 per cent to Rs 8.75 lakh crore (US$ 128 billion) by 2018. The Government has been instrumental in following the technological route. ‘BHIM’ app, ‘Digilocker’, e-aadhar are some of the initiatives taken by the government. IT has always been a blockbuster industry for India and with its broadening avenues; it is poised to grow more.

In any large democracy, NGOs run a parallel government. The Indian story is no different. NGOs are actively vibrant in taking forward India’s growth story. The socio-economic scenario in India has changed dramatically over the years barring the underpriveleged and thus, highlighting the role of non-profit organisations. India has more than 3 million NGOs registering their comprehensive presence in all the sectors across India. They have helped in providing employment, starting a business venture, battling legal cases, imparting education and scores of other causes. With the growing population and disparity, the role of NGOs becomes all the more relevant. However, in the recent past, the Government has become more stringent towards NGOs in terms of legal formalities and regulations.

In the quest to improve and sustain in the ever changing business environment, it is the endeavour of every organisation to provide the best products and services. Research and Development is vital to keep a check on the latest changes and innovations. Certain business segments viz. Pharmaceuticals, FMCG, Engineering goods, Aviation, Defence Production, Electronic goods need to be abreast with the changes around the globe and improve on a recurring basis. With many of these companies registering their presence in various countries, they have to comply with numerous laws and regulations. As the world innovates each moment, the R&D has a long way to go to witness the shrinking of the world.

The legal and financial industry is undergoing a technological transformation. The scenario is witnessing a shift due to regulatory and cultural shift resulting from requirements like e-filing, concept of hourly billing, humongous amount of soft data analysis, technological advancements by government bodies and the overall need for innovation and tuning with digital pace. Eyeing the flourishing Indian market, ingenious skilled professionals and liberalisation underway, the foreign investors and MNCs are outsourcing their legal and financial planning requirements to the Indian firms and considering the regulatory restrictions, entering into arrangements for indirectly investing and profiting from this gold mine.

This segment comprises of the people who basically help in formulating rules and regulations that drive the economy, ensure implementation and safe guard the rule of law.

This community is the driving force behind innovation and development in any economy and together this sector contributes to the economic strength and scientific advancement of any country. This is one industry that is inevitably bound to grow and open plethora of opportunities.