Sajith Pai

Welcome to the first episode of our new series, Return on India. I’m your host, Romeen Sheth. India is a country filled with nuance, contradictions, and ambition for the future. And throughout this podcast series, I’m excited to share why I believe the next decade will belong to India.  The first few episodes will focus on the macro story. The technological and demographic building blocks that lay the groundwork for future success. Then we’ll explore individual sectors, from e-commerce to gaming to fintech. All throughout, we will speak with investors, founders, and executives contributing to the next generation of Indian businesses.  My guest today is Sajith Pai, a general partner at one of India’s leading early stage venture firms, Blume Ventures. Sajith and the team at Blume put together a fantastic report recently on the rise of India’s start-up ecosystem, and it gives us the perfect entry point into this series. We discuss the right way to segment India’s consumer class, the tech trifecta enabling economic growth, and why the start-up playbook for India is so different to the United States. Please enjoy my conversation with Sajith Pai.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.   -----   Return On India is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Return On India, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.   Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here.   Follow us on Twitter: @RomeenSheth | @joincolossus   Show Notes [00:02:54] - [First question] - What he means by India being a country of contradictions [00:04:37] - The right framework for segmenting and understanding India’s consumer class [00:08:24] - Evaluating companies who are primarily attacking India 1 and extrapolating to the other tiers after establishing themselves  [00:11:09] - Unpacking the idea of building “X” for India and expanding to India-first use-case products and services  [00:14:33] - Whether or not it’s possible for a company to build for all Indian consumer classes and co’s who’ve done it successfully  [00:16:55] - Drivers that stand out to him when evaluating the Indian ecosystem  [00:20:29] - The rate of change in bandwidth, smartphones, and frictionless payment systems [00:23:32] - Breaking down the concept of leapfrogging and how it applies to India [00:26:59] - India’s low trust economy and public digital infrastructure  [00:30:45] - Being a data challenged country and thinking about the rise of public infrastructure from the outside in  [00:33:50] - Key phases the Indian startup ecosystem has gone through  [00:37:14] - How the numbers look in the ecosystem today compared to a few years ago [00:39:37] - The main sectors in their startup ecosystem and why capital pools behind them  [00:40:59] - What’s going on in SaaS in India and unique circumstances given their geography [00:44:12] - Differences for the playbook in launching successful SaaS companies in India compared to the US or other countries  [00:47:23] - Thoughts about India becoming one of the biggest English speaking countries in the world and the implications of that for their economy  [00:50:20] - Counterintuitive things about India that most people might not consider  [00:53:15] - Why he’s long on Indians but neutral on India  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sajith Pai, partner at Blume Ventures, discusses the 2024 Indus Valley Annual Report, India's consumer dynamics, fixed capital formation, fintech industry, space tech, and more. Topics include growth of India 2, challenges in the economy, female migration trends, rise of space technology, and book recommendations.

Sajith Pai, a Partner at Blume Ventures and author of the Indus Valley Report, dives deep into India's evolving digital landscape. He discusses the stratification of consumer markets and the impact of COVID-19 on startups catering to diverse income groups. The conversation explores India's AI boom, stressing the need for foundational models and nurturing local innovation. Pai also highlights the interplay between education, financial empowerment for women, and the historical context of land records in shaping modern governance.

In this episode, Shruti speaks with Sajith Pai about the various sectors of the Indian market, unique payment systems, public versus private investment, the role of artificial intelligence and much more. Pai is a long-time media executive turned venture capitalist. After working in media and entertainment, much of it in The Times of India Group, across strategy and corporate development roles, he moved to Blume Ventures, one of India’s leading early-stage venture firms, in 2018. At Blume, he actively focuses on and support its investments in the domestech space, including consumertech, smb saas, b2b marketplaces and more. He also writes on tech, business, culture and their intersections. Recorded March 29th, 2023 Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links. Follow us on Twitter Follow Shruti on Twitter Follow Sajith on Twitter Click here for the latest Ideas of India episodes sent straight to your inbox.

Sajith Pai, General Partner at Blume Ventures, shares his insights on the Indian startup scene, highlighting India's complexity beyond its monolithic image. He categorizes the market into three distinct segments: affluent urbanites, aspiring middle class, and economically marginalized citizens. Discussion also covers the impact of the caste system on social mobility, the evolving venture capital landscape, and India's emergence as a digital welfare state with innovations like Aadhaar and UPI, showcasing unique business models shaped by socio-technology.