Startup Business Plan

iEatRight.com

The start-up proposed  is a technology enabled internet meal provider with a difference. The venture will provide meals for people who are conscious of their heath and fitness but are too busy to adhere to the dietians advice.  This will be a subscription based service, i.e. we will not provide single meals. The users will have to subscribe for monthly, quarterly or annual meal plans for lunch, dinner or both.

The meal plans will be based on the dietary requirements of the individual to ensure right calories and balanced diet.  There will be three levels of meal plans

(1) Meal plan for managing diabetes.

(2) Meal plan for managing Obesity. 

(3)Standard meal plans for the family members of our customers so that they too do no have to cook !

Analysis of External Environment for the Proposed Start-up

(i) Political & Legal  Environment

India is not an easy place to do business. India was ranked at 134th position and 140th  in 2014  & 2015 respectively  in the ease of doing business index created by World Bank (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ease_of_doing_business_index) . In this index higher rank i.e. a lower numerical value indicates that the more conducive environment for businesses.

One of the election promises of the newly elected NDA government was to improve the environment for doing business. The government aims to improve India’s ranking to 50th by 2017.

On the legislative side the government has made several amendments to the archaic Companies Act to bring it in line with the changes in the way business ( http://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/tough-road-ahead-for-india-to-improve-wb-ranking-in-ease-of-doing-business-115010900164_1.html )

is being done today. It is also planning to bring about amendments to the labor legislation and the Land Acquisition Act .

The government also plans to simplify procedures by making most of them online and also plans to strengthen the IT infrastructure.

In the budget of 2015 the government has announce a Skill Development Mission under a dedicated ministry to develop and train you people “Job ready”.

(http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2015-03-02/news/59683987_1_national-skill-development-corporation-31-sector-skill-councils-monetary-reward-scheme)

There are 31 areas which also includes skills such as Food and Nutrition, dieticians and nutritionists besides the (http://www.skilldevelopment.gov.in/) usual vocational skills such as electrician, plumber etc.

Thus with government determined to  improve the ease of doing business this is the right time for our startup to commence operations in India.

(ii)Economic Environment

Indian economy is the seventh largest in the world in terms of nominal GDP (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_India) .  The annual growth rate in fiscal 2014-15 was 6.9% and is forecast to be between 7.2% to 7.5% for the current financial year (Apr-15 to Mar-16) . The high growth rate coupled with high crude oil prices meant high inflation in the region of 11% (Consumer Price Index -CPI)  in  year 2013 This resulted in successive rate hikes by the Central Bank making the cost of capital expensive. With the global cooling of Crude prices and also sustained high capital cost and weak demand has resulted the in CPI cooling down and  it is now in the region of  6% . The base lending rates by Central Bank (http://www.global-rates.com/economic-indicators/inflation/consumer-prices/cpi/india.aspx) has also come down to 7.5% from 8.5% prevailing in last 2-3 years.  As can be seen this rate is still high when compared to rates in other countries. (http://www.global-rates.com/interest-rates/central-banks/central-bank-india/rbi-interest-rate.aspx)  which are in the ranging from 2% to 5% .So  cost of capital is higher in India and businesses have to really work hard to be make profit .

There are a large numbers of banks, non-banking financial institutions from which businesses can burrow to meet their long term as well as working capital requirement. All these financial institutions have special schemes for small start-up ventures . Thee is also the specially created Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI)  for lending to micro and small enterprises (http://www.sidbi.com/) . SIDBI has products and services designed especially for small and medium entrepreneurs.

So the startup will have no dearth of institutions from which it can arrange working capital as well as long term capital for its operations.

(iii) Social Environment

For a long time it was said that India lives in its villages . It still is but the picture is changing fast.According to UN state of population report 2007 , 28.3% of Indian lived in cities in 2007  and this is expected to increase to 40.76% by 2030 . (http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/urbanisation-in-india-faster-than-rest-of-the-world/article1-233279.aspx)

India will be reaping a demographic dividend. The growth in working age population is expected to be 31% from 2010 to 2031 . The middle class in India is expected to be 41% of the population by 2025 from the present level of 19% . In absolute numbers India’s middle class population may soon be larger than entire US population by 2025.  (http://www.kkr.com/global-perspectives/publications/india-shifting-landscape) .

Mumbai accommodates 12.5 million people and is the largest metropolis by population in India. It is also the commercial capital of India and has a growing population of  nuclear families with rising income levels. Thus  Mumbai is likely to remain the city with highest number of people with good income and with growing living standards. This has also resulted in  increase in life style related dieases such as diabetes and obesity.

Diabetes is fast gaining the status of a potential epidemic in India with more than 62 million diabetic individuals currently diagnosed with the disease. The National Urban Survey conducted across the metropolitan cities of India reported the following distribution of this population

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