Sanjeev Bikhchandani
@sbikh
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Internet entrepreneur and investor
New Delhi
Joined April 2009
After the ceremony, PM @narendramodi met the awardees and had a nuanced conversation with each - no aides or papers. He knew each person. He told me he was bullish on start-ups. And was happy at the bounce back in employment and hiring as reflected in the Naukri Jobspeak Index
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Honoured and privileged to find my name in the Padma Shri list. While I have been given this award the truth is I owe it to the joint efforts and support of so many other people - colleagues, friends and family. Proud to represent the start up entrepreneur community in this list.
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On the Ashoka WhatsApp group there is a discussion on the convocation speech and what kind of convocation speakers we should look for. Most people are posting videos of commencement speakers from US universities. I posted the following message. đ. A random thought on.
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Honoured to have been awarded The Padma Shri by the President of India. I accept this on behalf of all my current and past colleagues at Info Edge whose work is being recognised through this award. I accept this also on behalf of all startups in India. Jai Hind.
President Kovind presents Padma Shri to Shri Sanjeev Bikhchandani for Trade and Industry. He is the founder of Info Edge India Limited and is known for investing in promising internet start-ups. Shri Bikhchandani is also involved in philanthropy.
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Sitting with Kunal Shah at a coffee shop in Delhi. In a world of IIT IIM Founders he stands out as a philosophy graduate from Wilson College in Mumbai. I asked him why he studied philosophy - is it that his marks in Class 12 only gave him admission in that subject or was it out.
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Did some spring cleaning in office yesterday and found this letter we had sent out in October 1997. Some six months after we launched naukri
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Congratulations and very well done team Zomato and Deepinder. Great things take time to build. Thank you for making us look like smart investors. @deepigoyal @zomato.
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Ramu Damodaran posted this anecdote about Dr. Manmohan Singh in a St. Stephenâs College Alumni Whatsapp Group. With Ramuâs permission I am posting it here. âMy first meeting with Dr MMS was in July â91, the day I joined Prime Minister Narasimha Raoâs office. The devaluations of.
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Indian companies will comply - for now. But what India needs is an App Store / Play Store that is a part of Digital Public Infrastructure - like UPI and ONDC. The response needs to be strategic @PiyushGoyal @PiyushGoyalOffc.
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Zomato has shown that a startup does not need to domicile or list overseas to succeed #stayinindia @deepigoyal @zomato @InfoEdgeVC.
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Just met @deepigoyal and the @zomato team. Delighted to learn that all senior managers including Deepinder don a red Zomato tee, get onto a motorcycle and spend a day delivering orders themselves at least once a quarter. Deepinder tells me that thus far nobody has recognised him.
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Unputdownable. The Money Trap by Alok Sama has got to be the best business book I have read in a long long time. The subject itself is the stuff of legend - Masa, SoftBank, The Vision Fund. Written in a racy and engaging style the book takes you into the rooms and at the table
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The armed forces are very fine institutions and a great training ground. If a person does four years of national service in the armed forces he or she will finish as a disciplined and a trained professional with a college degree.
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Ashneer is certainly provocative. This is a passage from the epilogue. It is bound to polarise. I will refrain from expressing my views on this matter and wait for others to comment
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Grades Matter. These two photographs are from the 1978-79 issue of my school magazine The Columban. In that era grades were not private and they were published in our school magazine. In 1978 around 200 students in my batch wrote the Class 10 Board exam. The list in the
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A couple of months back I got this email out of the blue. I had never met Mr. Subramanyan, however it is not everyday that the CMD of a giant company like L&T calls you for a meeting. So I went. He spent an hour with me. He was curious about my story. Entrepreneurship.
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Recd this on my class WhatsApp group from a very savvy investor. Profound
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For India to realise its true economic potential it is important that the the markets for all four factors of production are free - Land, labour, capital and entrepreneurship. Not a good idea for states to restrict labour markets.
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âNo matter how much Ashoka boasts about its left liberal values, but at the end of the day it is a capitalist instituteâŠIt cannot produce Bhagat Singhs or Umar Khalids.â. While I admire Bhagat Singh, as a parent do I want my son to go to the gallows at.
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Not audited or reviewed but estimated by our team. Here is the ultimate evidence why India should invest more behind its startups and in early stage VC funds. Go âŠ@startupindiaâ© âŠ@PMOIndiaâ© âŠ@TVMohandasPaiâ© âŠ@amitabhk87â©
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Naukri was launched exactly 27 years ago on April 1, 1997. Two other Internet companies were also launched on April 1. Indiamart in 1996 and Makemytrip in 2000 @Naukri @makemytrip @IndiaMART.
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India needs to export products and services. Not its entrepreneurs and start-ups
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Religion should supplement common sense not replace it.
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Yesterday at the âŠâŠâŠ@zomatoâ© strategy meeting in Gurgaon we had Mysore Pak from Sri Krishna Sweets Chennai delivered by the Intercity Legends service of Zomato. This may seem like a plug but I must say it took me back to my trips to Chennai in the pre Covid era
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Good move. Smart management teams and companies listen to feedback and find better answers. No ego.
Update on our pure veg fleet â . While we are going to continue to have a fleet for vegetarians, we have decided to remove the on-ground segregation of this fleet on the ground using the colour green. All our riders â both our regular fleet, and our fleet for vegetarians, will.
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When I was on the Board of Makemytrip I was awarded ESOP. In line with Satish Mandhanaâs sage advice Hitesh, Ambarish and I decided that the economic benefit of this ESOP should go to Info Edge rather than to me as that would align all of our shareholders interests.
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Rakesh Jhunjhunwala just concluded an excellent discussion at Ashoka University. For a Liberal Arts university he has a remarkably large fan following here. I polled the audience randomly about how many students had invested in Crypto. Around 20% had âŠ@AshokaUnivâ©
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What to think versus how to think. An ideologically committed professor will teach students what to think. He or she will indoctrinate students into a particular way of thinking, an ideology and a cause. An open minded professor, no matter what his or her personal political.
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Many of the Info Edge apps are back on the play store. An effort very well led by Hitesh and the entire Info Edge team. People were up all night for this. Great crisis management.
Naukri India jobseeker, 99acres and Naukrigulf apps are back on the Google Play store.
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Very well done ixigo. Congratulations @alokebajpai thank you for allowing @InfoEdgeVC to invest
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Since âŠ@Sequoia_Indiaâ© blogged about governance issues I though I would add some random thoughts of my own on corporate governance.
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The problem of title inflation. The corporate sector, a few decades back, pioneered the concept of title inflation. Donât increase salaries, donât enlarge the role or the responsibilities, just change the title so as to make the person feel more important than he or she actually.
Many courses at Ashoka teaches students to critically think about the world, it's institutions and the status quo. Some students choose to apply their learning in practice, engaging in political activism.
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Well well well. Harvard University ranked worst for free speech: Report - India Today
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Miten thanks for this message. Actually the credit should go to the Zomato team. @deepigoyal @zomato. Our skill lies in merely identifying great teams and putting in money. We are grateful that these great teams allow us to invest. Money is a commodity. Entrepreneurship is rare.
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Received this on my BSchool WhatsApp group Google Khoje, Yahoo Khoje Aur Khoje Bing. Kahet Kabira suno bhai Sadhoo .You gotta search within. Bliss always đ.
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Just recd this data from the @AshokaUniv management. A total of 7544 students have enrolled at Ashoka University since inception. Of these 4559 (approx 60%) have received financial aid from the university. Of these 1837 (approx 24% of all students) have received a 100% tuition.
Thank you for raising this very important issue Mohan and giving me an opportunity to address it. Ashoka has a very generous scholarship programme. Approximately sixty percent of class at Ashoka is on some form of financial aid from the University - ranging from 25% to 100%.
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Ok our team has sent me a revised estimate. The thesis remains the same - invest more in startups
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@forum2024 A bit of an overclaim. The protesting students came and stood outside the door of the class during the ten minute break after the first hour of the class. They shouted slogans for two or three minutes and then went away. I was inside the classroom in a conversation with some.
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Insight No. 44 from âThe Info Edge Way of Investingâ. A startup that has vision makes losses. A startup that has a sales target breaks even.
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Mithai from the shop that gave birth to a business empire and a university
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Thank you for raising this very important issue Mohan and giving me an opportunity to address it. Ashoka has a very generous scholarship programme. Approximately sixty percent of class at Ashoka is on some form of financial aid from the University - ranging from 25% to 100%.
@sbikh Ashoka education is too expensive for the majority of Indians and too elitist.Focused fully on the west as if preparing Indians for the US. You need to have much more scholarships and create stars for India not students who aspire for the US-See Ashoka as a stepping stone.
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And I must acknowledge that at our end it was Hitesh who first suggested we look at Zomato for investment back in 2010 @deepigoyal @hitobs.
More congratulatory messages for us after the zomato ipo than after the naukri ipo đ Social media or Zomatoâs cult brand or Sign of the times @zomato @deepigoyal.
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Actually @deepakshenoy in a VC fund the money is drawn down over a period of time and not at the beginning of the fund - as and when the money is required to be invested in the portfolio. Exits too are staggered - as and when they happen. Therefore for a twelve year fund it is.
This is quite a useful report to read! Few thoughts.a) The return of 5.7x in 12 years or so, is roughly 15% p.a. , pre-profit-share. (I assumed that money is invested then and returned now, could be wrong but there's no data in there) . That is decent (it beats the Nifty's 12%!)
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Worth a read. Martin Indyk: Why Hamas Attackedâand Why Israel Was Taken by Surprise
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With Swami Shailendra Saraswati Ji at the IIMA Alumni Association dinner tonight. Swamiji is from the class of 1977 IIMA. Had a chat with him regarding his career. He worked for less than three years in the corporate sector and then followed his calling. A remarkable career path
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A guarded character certificate - To the best of my knowledgeâŠ
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Delhi at 0.03% positivity is the lowest it has been since I cannot remember when. Carry on vaccinating folks
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Unfortunately the subsidy mindset and mybaap sarkar attitude hasnât left us. If it is by the government it must be free. @maheshperi People who are going to end up working for Hedge Funds and PE firms donât need a subsidised MBA.
Thread: So, my post on IIMs and their high fees ruffled a few feathers. It is a good debate to engage in about affordability of education and role of public institutions. I felt I needed to explain my PoV. So, here goes:.
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At @InfoEdgeVC we are very mindful of governance at all the start ups we invest in. For instance we have walked away from companies where the founders were running two companies and were taking investment into one and not the other.
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Positivity rate in Delhi down to 28%. It had peaked at 36% and was steady at around 32% for several days. 28% is a break. Is it a glimmer of hope and the beginning of a downtrend or is it a one day aberration. Am I clutching at a straw?
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A R Rahman visited Ashoka University today where he interacted with the students. He played the piano while the students sang Vande Matram âŠ@arrahmanâ© âŠ@AshokaUnivâ©
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This is tragic and premature. We had invested in Ishitaâs startup 99labels more than a decade back. The business didnât pan out the way we had all hoped and we took a write off. Since then we lost touch. I remember her as a very nice and soft spoken person. A gentle soul. As an.
Praying for Ishita Swarup and her family, May her soul Rest in Peace.
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And one confession. I need a tutorial on how to tweet so that my tweets appear in a logical sequence rather than in a jumbled order đ.
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A couple of years ago at Ashoka University we analysed data about where our students went after graduating. We realised that a majority of them went to work in organisations either in the corporate sector or in not for profits. We figured that apart from teaching liberal arts and
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First good governance begins in the founders heads. No amount of oversight by investors, boards, audit committees or auditors can ensure a company is well governed if the founders are not committed to this objective.
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Well done Deepinder. Fully deserved.
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Great move to allocate to the Fund of Funds for startups another Rs. 10,000 crs. The first fund done a few years ago gave a huge fillip to the Indian Venture Capital industry. Dozens of Indian VC funds got set up providing risk capital to hundreds of startups. India needs.
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The startup movement will transform India. The right mentor can make a huge difference to a startup. The guru-shishya tradition is age old in India. Great to hear Indian Startups and mentors being recognised in Man ki Baat today #Mankibaat @startupindia @investindia @NITIAayog.
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Flag unfurling at the Info Edge office just now âŠ@InfoEdgeVCâ© âŠ@Naukriâ© âŠ@99acresIndiaâ© âŠ@Jeevansathi_comâ©
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Sitting with Ravi Mehta @SteadviewCap crystal ball gazing. We concluded that in three years between 40 to 60 VC funded tech companies in India will be sustainably profitable. So it isnât all gloom and doom. We even listed out several candidate companies for this list @InfoEdgeVC.
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On this day let us reaffirm our commitment to all that Bhagwan Ram stood for - humility, empathy, truthfulness, righteousness, striving to be just and for justice. Let us stand for good and against evil - in our hearts and in the world. Let there be peace in society.
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Shades of the East India Company type of situation here - Indian market, Indian customers, Indian developers, Indian workforce. However 100% foreign ownership, foreign investors. IP and data transferred overseas. Transfer pricing issues foggy.
Why does YC need to force Indian companies to flip to US structure?. This flipping creates so much of extra work for founders & early Indian investors who backed the company. They like the Indian market & talent, but not Indian laws. Indian Govt should take a talk with them.
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I wonder what a close up of tandoori chicken would look like
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Speaking at an event in Delhi University. Launch of Career Development Centres in twenty colleges. Focus on entrepreneurship. Prof. Yogesh Singh VC ended his talk with four inspiring lines
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Just finished the Zomato board meeting. Outside the Zomato office as I left âŠ@zomatoâ© âŠâŠ@KKRidersâ© âŠ@KKRUniverseâ©
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This practice has been going on for the last three years.
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A good move RBI. Now make it even better by allowing only India domiciled Fintech companies to do this. Help those who chose the harder path of not flipping to an overseas jurisdiction. #atmanirbharbharat âŠ@PMOIndiaâ© âŠ@RBIâ© âŠ@startupindiaâ©
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For all the startups that are struggling in the current economy. Hang on in there.
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Startupâs transform a nationâs economy. Not immediately perhaps - but over years and decades. The Indian business landscape has been radically transformed from when I began my working career forty years back. In hindsight it looks like a revolution but it has actually been an.
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Actually I am not sure that the best students donât join DU. With due respect to Mukul this is an opinion piece and I donât see any data based evidence to support this assertion. One constant discussion we have at Ashoka is about how we can attract that.
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PhonePe CEO Sameer Nigam estimates that at least twenty unicorns want to flip back to India if regulations enable it. The govt needs to launch a ghar wapsi programme for flipped startupâs
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Use of funds is different from fees charged @maheshperi Historically for the last forty years of the average graduate of IIMA has earned the cost back in fourteen months. Reducing the fees would be subsidising training for people who will go and work for MNCs at high salaries.
Thread: The fees of IIM(A) have risen from 4 lacs in 2007 to 27 lacs today, a 575% increase in 15 years. The Income tax inflation index growth for the same period is 146%. IIMs have singularly led higher education to become expensive & unaffordable. Let me explain:.
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Stumbled upon this. If you are of a certain age you might have seen this on Doordarshan. I probably saw it a hundred time
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The Aera 5000+. The E-Bike from Matter. Launching in the next few months. Feels remarkably like a real bike. The last time I rode a motorcycle was in 1989 when I sold my Yezdi. In the picture are Mohal Lalbhai Founder âŠ@matter_indiaâ©. âŠ@Capital2Bâ© has invested.
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Jeevansathi recently gatecrashed a wedding of a Jeevansathi couple in Indore and surpsrised the bride with a performance by Jasleen Royal
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One of them even said âIn my view Info Edge gets a 25% premium in the stock price for good corporate governance. Always remember Good governance leads to higher valuationsâ.
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Two great pieces of advice I received when we raised our first round back in the year 2000. The first - .âAlways remember your independent directors and auditors are there to save you from yourselvesâ Kaushik Dutta then Partner at PWC at the time they were accepting our audit.
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This is consistent with what the Naukri Jobspeak index is saying
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