22% of Indian college students have started a business: IIT Mandi survey

More than one in five Indian college students has already started a business, according to the GUESSS India 2025 National Survey led by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Mandi and released on 22 October 2026. The survey of 25,783 students from more than 1,200 higher education institutions found that 22% have launched a business, close to the global average of 23%, and that 43% want to become entrepreneurs. It also found that fewer students now aim for jobs in large companies.

For years, the default plan for many Indian graduates has been a government job or a place at a large company. This survey suggests that plan is slowly changing. The share of students who want to start their own business right after studies has risen, and the share aiming for big firms has fallen, while coverage of the report notes that interest in government jobs is also declining. Student entrepreneurship in India is now about as common as the global average, and the wish to start a business is well above it.

The report also shows how student founders work in practice. Many do not stop after one failure: 41% had already shut a business before starting again. Many run more than one venture at a time, which often means small side businesses, freelance services or online selling alongside their studies rather than funded start-ups. According to the report, 31% of student businesses with regular sales were launched in 2025 alone, which shows how new most of these ventures are.

The survey also points to gaps. About half of Indian students said they know no entrepreneur other than their parents, compared with about a third of students worldwide. Without people to learn from, it is harder to find mentors, customers and partners. The report's authors also highlight that finding the first paying customer is harder than coming up with the first idea. And women who want to start a business are less likely than men to have actually done so.

What should a student do next? If you are thinking of starting something, check whether your college has an incubation centre or an entrepreneurship cell, since these often offer mentoring, workspace and small grants. Start-up India and state start-up missions run programmes and challenges for students. Before spending money, test whether someone will actually pay for what you plan to sell.

Short-term: Colleges, incubators and state start-up programmes have fresh data to plan mentoring and support for student founders, especially for helping them reach first customers.

Long-term: If more students build businesses while studying, the pool of experienced young founders will grow. The gender and networking gaps the survey found will need attention if that growth is to include women and students outside well-connected campuses.

Who is affected: College students and recent graduates, especially those weighing a business against a job, women students who want to start ventures, college incubation centres, and government start-up schemes.

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