So, a whole nation is bad because a dozen officers were lazy? I really love the prostitute-ish ways Techcrunch goes sometimes to get pageviews. Well, it's their style anyway (Apple vs Samsung articles, anyone?)
Let's forget Techcrunch now.
First, I would like to point out certain things about the Indian eco-system for Entrepreneurs.
If you plan to run a max-profit, high efficiency startup, India it is. Period.
I say 'high efficiency' because you can optimize a lot of things for maximum profit.
Programmers are dead cheap. By programmers, I mean real programmers. You can hire decent programmers for $150-$200 a month. And that's a pretty standard amount in the IT scenario in India. The last time I checked people were paying $1000-$2000 for an average marketer who cold calls and emails random people in Western countries.
Of course, the next thing you'd argue is about the 'quality' of the programmers. See, these are real people. I know you get to meet a lot of shitty Indians everywhere. They're all over freelancing market places, take your money and do a shitty job. Agreed. But these people are not the 100% of the IT work force in India. They're probably like 30-40% which is large, but they are very much employable. All you need to do is just teach them the right way to do things and they'll grasp. And they improve. Just like everybody else. They're also people like us, right?
Next, I say 'maximum profit' because there's a lot of things that will save you money in India.
Need some office space? Here you go, starting from $60 a month. And these are in posh locations we're talking about (Contrary to popular belief, India has a lot of posh locations which were not shown in Slumdog Millionaire. Again, sensationalism. Oh this bastardized media!)
So, you can get a decent lawyer for $100-200. These guys take care of all your company incorporation, etc. Need an auditor to file taxes? That's just $100 a year.
Let's do the math for an American incorporation?
$200-$600 for Incorporating an LLC $50-$100/yr for Registered agent. Attorney fees - $1000-$15000 (decent attorney)
Travel is dead cheap in India. For $10 you can travel between two states comfortably on a Volvo A/C bus. Traveling within the city? That's just $2 cents. Or $1 cent. Actually even less. Depends on your mode.
Safety. I know you've been reading a lot of rape and stuff in the news channel. So, everybody gets to read only the bad parts (Media, again). However, there are a lot of posh, decent areas where there are cops circling around almost 24/7 till night. These places cost slightly extra, but they are totally worth it.
Also, it is very important that you realize that India has rape incidents mean the whole nation is spread out with rapists. Rape cases are most often encountered in the northern region. It's safe to say that Southern India is pretty safe (much much safe) compared to North India, which is almost full of sex-starved assholes (vague generalizaion)
This is not to say that South India has no rape at all. Just like any other country, abuse exists, but it's pretty controlled in the South. The last time a child molester was caught, he was shot dead in an encounter. (encounters of nasty criminals are pretty common here). Just avoid going out in the nights to lonely places and you should be pretty safe. Avoid public transportation if you can, or opt for deluxe buses/trains. India is as safe as any other country if you take some general precautions.
Now back to our start up. If you started up in the United states/United Kingdom, you'd be blowing out money like water. But if you start up in India and seek funding from abroad, most likely people will avoid you because you are an India, and the complications involved. My advice - Setup a C-Corp/LLC/whatever in the States/UK or which ever country you need funding from and then run it from India through an Indian Pvt limited as its partner.
Why? Because in India, nobody wants to sue you for rounded corners. Nobody sues startups in India. And even if they do (0.01% probability), the lawyers are pretty cheap. And even if you lose in court, you will most likely have loopholes to escape. And even if you lose the case, you'd be paying very few for damages ($500-$10000) much much lower than compared to what you'd be paying in America/UK.
But, the Indian startup scenario is also full of assholes. The founders are generally good, but most lack decent vision. And the accelerators. Oh god, these guys want to be the face of the start up eco-system and will be all over the place. They will want huge percentages in your company to introduce you to some founder you can actually meet over coffee yourself. And seeking funding? Good luck figuring out the terms. Shady at best.
But, with all that said, India is the best place for efficient bootstrapping startups. Period. FYI Zoho is from (South) India.
The best example I can show you that this is valid advice is to set myself up in India and become really successful, which I will and let my lovely HN community know soon.
Ty