New Delhi: More than one in five Indian college students has already started a business, broadly matching the global average, while the proportion aspiring to launch a venture immediately after graduation has risen, according to a national survey led by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Mandi.
The GUESSS India 2025 National Survey Report, based on responses from 25,783 students across more than 1,200 higher-education institutions in 34 states and union territories, found that 22% of Indian students had already started a business, compared with 23% globally. Another 43% expressed a desire to become entrepreneurs, matching the global average.
Among Indian student businesses that have already achieved regular sales, 35.5% generate such sales, compared with 33% globally, the report found.
The findings point to an opportunity for higher-education institutions to move beyond promoting entrepreneurship as a career aspiration and strengthen the support available to students seeking to establish viable businesses.
More students want to start businesses after graduation
The share of students who want to run their own businesses immediately after completing their studies increased from 14% in the 2023 survey to 16.2% in 2025.
Over the same period, the proportion aspiring to take up government jobs immediately after graduation declined from 12.7% to 10.1%. The share preferring employment in a large company also fell, from 31.3% to 27.4%.
The shift suggests a change in students’ stated career preferences, although the survey figures alone do not establish whether this will translate into a sustained increase in venture creation.
Indian student entrepreneurs also appear willing to experiment with business ownership. Of student businesses with regular sales, 31% were founded in 2025, compared with 18% globally. Meanwhile, 41% of student founders reported having closed an earlier business and started another, against 33% globally. Another 42% ran two or more businesses, compared with 25% globally.
“India’s students are as ambitious as any in the world, and those who start are building real businesses that already hire people,” said Dr Puran Singh, Associate Professor at the School of Management, IIT Mandi, and Country Delegate for GUESSS India, who led the report.
“Courses, dedicated programmes and campus incubators are clearly working. The opportunity now is to put more founders in students’ lives and help them take a real first step early,” he said.
Founder networks and first sales remain gaps
Despite strong entrepreneurial interest, the survey identifies gaps between aspiring entrepreneurs and those who make progress towards establishing businesses.
Half of Indian students reported knowing no entrepreneur outside their parents, compared with one-third of students globally. The report also found that students with entrepreneurs in their social circles, including relatives, friends, classmates and teachers, were three times more likely to start a venture.
Among students still in the process of building their businesses, 10% had made their first sale, compared with 23% globally.
The findings indicate that access to entrepreneurial role models and early customer opportunities could be important areas for universities to address through mentoring, incubation and industry engagement.
The report also highlights a gender gap in converting entrepreneurial intentions into action. While women expressed an interest in starting businesses almost as often as men, 45% of women who wanted to become founders had started a venture, compared with 53% of men.
IT, artificial intelligence and digital technologies emerged as the most common intended sectors among student founders. However, only around one in 10 operating student businesses was digital, pointing to a gap between students’ intended areas of entrepreneurship and the businesses they currently run.
“A university’s task is no longer only to educate students for jobs. It is to educate them for enterprise, so that they create the jobs,” said Dr P Shyama Raju, Chancellor of REVA University, Bengaluru, the national partner for GUESSS India 2025.
What universities can do to improve conversion
The report, titled ‘How do we make student entrepreneurs?’, recommends that universities, incubators and governments focus on the conversion of entrepreneurial intentions into actual ventures.
It calls for institutions to track how many students who intend to start businesses eventually do so. According to the report, 51 out of every 100 students who express entrepreneurial intentions have started a venture.
It also recommends bringing alumni founders, faculty entrepreneurs and student entrepreneurs into classrooms and campus residential spaces to give aspiring founders greater access to practical experience and networks.
Another priority is helping students secure their first customers rather than focusing predominantly on business-plan competitions. The report recommends recognising early milestones such as first sales, registrations and prototypes.
“Student entrepreneurship is central to how the School of Management thinks about management education: we want our students to build ventures and organisations, not only to manage them,” said Prof Anjan Swain, Chair of the School of Management at IIT Mandi.
Prof Shyam Kumar Masakapalli, Dean of Sponsored Research and Industrial Consultancy at IIT Mandi, said the institute remained committed to creating an ecosystem in which students are encouraged to identify and pursue opportunities.
