Kumar Mangalam Birla Tells Nikhil Kamath ₹1 Crore Is 'Just Not Enough' to Launch Startup

In a recent episode of Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath’s podcast, Aditya Birla Group's Chairman, Kumar Mangalam Birla candidly shared that a sum of Rs 1 crore is not sufficient enough for launching a startup. 

Why Rs. 1 Crore is not enough to start a business these days?

Kamath asked Birla, “If a young entrepreneur had ₹1 crore or ₹2 crore, is there an industry you’d recommend with strong tailwinds?”

However, Birla  bluntly responded, “₹1 crore is just not enough to start any business today.”

Kamath’s follow-up question was, ‘What if it was ₹10 crore?’

Birla elaborated that given the complexities and growing challenges, even ₹10 crore might not stretch far enough. 

While the Zerodha founder suggested that one could open a small jewelry store with ₹10 crore, Birla rejected the idea by saying that one needs a lot more, at least around ₹30 crore for the same.

The Aditya Birla Group Chairman advised the young generation to keep the money in a bank instead of risking it on ventures that lack scalability or capital.

An entrepreneur needs a sound financial backup to penetrate India's competitive markets covering infrastructure costs, investments in technology, and the cost of acquiring customers. From software to manufacturing industries, or e-commerce, an Indian startup rarely gets funded by less than ₹1 crore.

Sharing memories of his early exposure to business, Birla talked about working alongside his father from the age of 18. Comparing this hands-on experience to a real-time MBA he admitted that it laid the groundwork for his eventual leadership of the Aditya Birla Group at just 28.

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