THE new sunday express MAGAZINE Voices Devdutt Pattanaik Ravi Shankar S Vaidhyasubramaniam Anu Aggarwal Dr Ramya Alakkal Mata Amritanandamayi Buffet People Wellness Books Food Art & Culture Entertainment september 28 2025 SUNDAY PAGES 12 Small Town, Big Deal How CEOs from small-town India are quietly rewriting the startup playbook F By Mallik Thatipalli or decades, ambition in India came with a suitcase. The unspoken rule was clear: if you wanted to build a future, you had to migrate. Whether it was tech in Bengaluru, finance in Mumbai, policy in Delhi, or manufacturing in Chennai, the roadmap was always the same—move to a metro and make your mark. But somewhere between the steady rise of the internet and a generational shift in mindset, a new story is being written—not in the high-rises of megacities, but in the quieter bylanes of India’s Tier II and Tier III towns. A transformative shift is silently reshaping the landscape. Once, metropolitan skylines hummed with CEOs gliding through traffic in sleek Mercedes and Audis, draped in Armani and Tom Ford, wrists adorned with Movado or Patek Philippe, luggage stamped with Louis Vuitton and Rimowa. They spoke in billions in glass-and-steel boardrooms, savoured sunset cocktails at five-star resorts, lounged on sun-drenched beaches, and swiped effortlessly into exclusive clubs, gala dinners, and invite-only art auctions. The small-town CEO doesn’t come with this glittering baggage. There’s no fleet of chauffeur-driven cars, no closets bursting with designer labels, no passport full of luxury stamps. What they do have is a deeply familiar ecosystem, a universe of untapped talent, hidden networks, and grassroots opportunities waiting to be discovered. In these corners of the country innovation isn’t dictated by trend , or ticker; it thrives in the ingenuity of people who’ve long been overlooked. It’s in this landscape that Madhavi Jadhav’s story finds resonance. In 2017, Jadhav, now CEO of Atman—a mental health platform offering free counselling to students—was confronted with a question from her teenage niece: “All my friends at school have boyfriends. I’m in the five per cent that doesn’t. Should I have one too?” Jadhav turned the moment into a mission. She founded Atman right in her hometown of Satara, Maharashtra. “We chose Satara because the costs were lower and the investment more manageable,” she says. This rise of small-town entrepreneurship is no coincidence. Three powerful forces are converging: internet penetration reaching even the remotest panchayats, the normalisation of remote and hybrid work, and a new wave of aspiration among small-town consumers. Affordable smartphones and digital payments have unlocked access to markets once unimaginable. Cloud platforms let founders build world-class operations from Tier III towns. And India’s hinterland consumers, once thought to be only price-conscious, are now demanding better, and are willing to pay for it. Bindu Nishal, VP of Agri Innovations & One Health at IKP Knowledge Park, which has supported startups across 102 cities in India, explains, “We have seen a strong spirit of entrepreneurship in these cities since they tackle problems at the grassroots level.” A TiE 2025 report predicts that with consistent policy and infrastructure support, Tier II and Tier III cities could create 50 million jobs and contribute up to 15 per cent of India’s GDP by 2035. With internet penetration crossing 55 per cent in 2025—more than half of India’s 1.4 billion people are now online—founders in small towns can dream big from day one. Magsaysay award winner Harish Hande, who founded SELCO India in 1995 by taking solar power to the villages of Mangaluru, says, “These startups know the problem they are trying to solve.” And everywhere you look, there’s the same clever use of digital scaffolding. As investoroperator Anup Pai puts it, “There are a 1,000 reasons why a startup will fail. There is one reason why it will succeed. Focus on that one reason.” For these founder-CEOs, that “one reason” is often proximity to the problem— paired with a sharp instinct for using technology to leap beyond it. For co-founder and CEO Shyam Ratan, Agra is more than just the city of the Taj. Its lower costs and solid connectivity have been a strategic advantage. “ researcher once asked A if, being Agra-based, our startup ‘makes marksheets’,” Ratan recalls with a laugh. Rather than be discouraged, the team turned the stereotype into fuel—mentoring local talent, forging international partnerships, and proving that innovation need not be confined to Delhi, Bengaluru, or Mumbai. Though the road is not entirely smooth, small-town CEOs are proving that innovation does not need a metro pin code, that a good idea can rise from Satara’s crowded lanes, from Nashik’s vineyards, from Raipur’s small offices and Agra’s workshops. They are stitching together grants, programmes, and digital visibility into new strengths. The revolution is already here, and it no longer wears a suit or sits in a corner office. Drone Dreams Ankit Kumar IndoplanetX Space Vault & Research, Roorkee “We face multiple challenges, but these challenges are balanced by the fact that people here have big dreams and a strong focus.” I n Roorkee, where the Ganga meanders past the iconic IIT campus, a bold vision for India’s space future is quietly taking shape. IndoplanetX Space Vault & Research (ISVRx) is at the forefront, developing hydrogen fuel cells for drones, experimenting with semi-cryogenic engines, and filing patents that could redefine the country’s aerospace landscape. Over 2,000 students have already engaged with its 15-plus space-awareness programmes, while more than 10 educational and research institutions have joined hands with ISVRx to nurture innovation. “We face multiple challenges, including funding constraints, difficulty in building a skilled team, and overcoming certain local mindset limitations,” says founder-CEO Ankit Kumar. “However, these challenges are balanced by the fact that people here have big dreams and a strong focus on working towards them.” Despite limited resources, ISVRx continues to push boundaries. Its semi-cryogenic engine aims to make rocket propulsion more efficient, while its hydrogen-powered drones promise longer flight times and greener alternatives to conventional battery systems. By combining cutting-edge technology with education and collaboration, ISVRx is creating a space ecosystem in a city better known for its rivers and engineering college.