20 Business Ventures Ideas for budding entrepreneurs which can be started within Rs 5 lakh only

No.	Business	What's it about	Skills  Needed	Amount you need to start (Rs)	Gross Profit (%)	Break even period	Company in  the Name	Entrepreneur(s)
1	Ultra-short temping services	Arrange temporary manpower for event managers. There are young people reaady to make some quick money and event managers are looking for more hands.	Networking	1,000	20	10 months	Radicals, Mumbai	Chirag Bhatia, Varun Parekh
2	Shoe wash	Canvas shoes were cleaned earlier with just detergent and an old toothbrush. But people who wear today's fancy sneakers prefer paying a bit to have them cleaned by experts.	Knowledge of using the chemicals involved, marketing	7,000	40	3 months	Shoe Laundry, Mumbai	Sandeep Gajakas
3	Food delivery	How do you lay out a dinner spread with the best dishes from the best restaurants in town? Or, get food from your favourite resturant? A specialist food delivery service can do just that.	Marketing and sales	15,000	20	2 months	Dial-a- Meal, Hyderabad	Pani Kumar Reddy
4	Uniform making	B-schools are making dress codes compulsory for students. Law and medical colleges may do the same. Tie up with these institutions to deliver dresses at student-friendly prices.	Man management	20,000	N.A.	1 year	Ecstacy Enterprises, Kolkata	Atiq Shah
5	Property management	Find a suitable workplace for business enterprises and save their time by doing all the cumbersome paperwork for them.	Marketing and sales	50,000	50	1 month	E-States International,Pune	Sundip Joshy, Sachin Dhanwala
6	Telecom Business Consultantcy	With the spirit of entrepreneurship reaching new heights, leverage your knowledge and expertise to make business plans for budding entrepreneurs.	Networking	50,000	N.A.	4 months	Tons Telecom, Bangalore	Sridhar Pai
7	Wedding planning	Weddings in India have unmatched opulence and are a long drawn process in some parts. Organise them for people who do not have the time.	Creativity	50,000	15	Depends on projects you get	TAB Events, Delhi	Rita Bhasin
8	Concierge services	Arrange services like medical treatment, babysitting and even plumbing for newcomers to a place.	Networking, communication skills	50,000	10	6 months	Concierge 4 India, Delhi	Arvind Pandey
9	House keeping (hotels)	Help hotels keep their rooms spick and span.	Man management, communication skills	50,000	20	N.A.	Pristine Interiors, Delhi	Ritu Mukherji
10	Pre-recruitment and assessment exercise	There is a talent crunch in India. Help cos hire workers by preparing tests and then evaluating applicants on the basis of their performance.	Marketing and sales	75,000	25	2 months	MeritTrac, Bangalore	Madan Padaki
11	Custom-making chocolates	Prepare the perfect food, chemically speaking, and serve in fancy wrappers.	Creativity, love for chocolates	100,000	30-35	1 week	Rage Chocolatiers, Bangalore	Rashmi Vaswani
12	Bus service website	Inter-city bus service is booming. Create a webpage that shows all the bus routes and their rates and through which tickets can be booked.	Knowledge of IT, bus routes	200,000	10	5 months	RedBus.in	Phanindra Sama, Charan Padmaraju, Sudhakar Pasupunuri, Bangalore
13	Custom-making festival gifts	Innovatively choose festival gifts for a client and have them appropriately wrapped.	Sensitivity, idea of direct gift makers' outlets	300,000	20	3 months	Sacred Moments, Mumbai	Prakash Mundhra
14	Online ads	Have a directory of websites and use your access to those in charge of them to get the right niche ad space for a client, so that he maximises his reach to his target audience.	Media planning, knowledge of Net, networking	300,000	20	1 year	Ozone Media, Bangalore	Kiran Gopinath
15	Verification services	Informaton security is a big concern for BPOs. Check the background of prospective employees to avoid corporate fraud.	Networking with police, legal knowledge	400,000	10	6 months	Pinkerton Consulting & Investigations India (PCII), Gurgaon	Krishnendu Biswas, works for PCII as MD
16	Tank cleaning	Growing use of water tanks and concern for hygiene gives you a chance to displace the guy in dirty overalls and professionally clean tanks with the right equipment.	Tech-savvy	400,000	30	7 months	TanClean, Mumbai	Sunil Uplab
17	Travel guide	Pollution, long working hours, stress - customise trips to forests, fishing riverines and mountains for those who just wanna chill	Knowledge about getaways, high fun quotient	1,50,000	35	24 months	Outrigor, Bangalore	Sandeep Chakrabarti
18	Revenue credit billing	Manage the credit finances of hospitals that are outsourcing this job. The quicker you recover money for your client the more the chances of success.	Knowledge of insurance, networking	2,00,000	20	3 months	Health and Insurance Integrated, Noida	Deepak Mendiratta
19	Merchandising services	Merchandising by business establishments is growing. Do it efficiently for them.	Marketing, creativity	2,00,000	10	15 months	Desk Digital Print, Delhi	Yogesh Bharadwaj
20	Housekeeping (offices)	Help Shining India. Get its offices cleaned.	Man management, communication skills	5,00,000	5	12 months	Collections, Delhi	Ramesh

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Speak Asia Online (SAOL) - A BIG CONTROVERSY

Please allow me to place before you the story from the affected 20 lakhs panelists’ view point.

* February/March 2010 Speakasiaonline Pte. Ltd. (SAOL) a company registered in Singapore starts its operation in India.Basically  Speak Asia registration in SingaporeWith Number of 200618809D

* Speak Asia Online Line  (SAOL) starts their operation as a Paid Surveys  Provider company, in its first or its launch phase, and its tag line was “We Value your Opinion”. As When People Joined and Answers the Surveys they get Paid .

* Because of the unique idea combined with aggressive field support from the company, SAOL grew at a phenomenon speed and in short time of less than a year SAOL panel size grew to a whopping 20 lakh panelists.

* The huge size of the SAOL family along with a pan India presence spread over every demographic
possible made it the biggest provider of survey panels on the international panel exchanges.

* All the panelists have always been paid promptly and regularly by the company till the
12th May, 2011, But on 11th May A news Channel Named "Star News" show a news Star News Exposes Speak Asia and and Some of the Politicians such as Kirit Somaya as Letter by Dr. Kirit Somaiya Against Speak Asia on 18 May 2011 .On 16th We ( SAOL ) arrange speak asia press conference  where all our Speak Asia Management Including Mr. Manoj Kumar CEO , Tarak Bajpai ( COO ) , Narayanan Rajagopalan , Mr. Vivek Gautam ( Chief Marketing Officer ) , Sanjeev Mehta ( Country Head Sales ) and Sanjeev Dwived. In This Press Conference Mr . Narayanan Rajagopalan Speak Asia  Explained About Paid Surveys and try to Understand the Speak Asia Business Model But after that the bank accounts were closed by the company bankers
M/s United Overseas Bank, Singapore, on 27th May, 2011 probably due to the cautionary circular
sent out by the RBI vide circular No. DBS.CO.PPD No.16237/11.01.005/2010-11 dated 23rd May, 2011.

* SAOL has been approaching the RBI and various other appropriate agencies to seek permission for
establishing their permanent establishment  and for restarting the operations and restarting the payments to their panelists (us).

* An Individual not connected to SAOL filed a criminal PIL in the Mumbai high court against the Government of Maharashtra, seeking directions to the police to set up a suitable mechanism to avoid any sort of internet fraud to safeguard gullible small time investors.

* The Hon. High Court presided by her ladyship Justice Ranjana Desai was pleased to instruct the EOW to file their affidavit on the mechanism in place to safeguard the investors. She had made some observations which were prime facie observations not in any way pointing to the SAOL.

* The EOW erred in their interpretation of the Hon. Ladyship and started investigating SAOL with a vengeance. The investigation arises out of a FIR filed by one Mr. Khosla, who has been a panelist of the company and has been regularly getting paid by the company till the bank accounts were closed in May, 2011.

* Some FIRs have been filed by few aggrieved panelists all over the country. It is not the case of any complainant that they have not received payments before the bank account was unfortunately closed down.

* SAOL is on record and are committed to restart the payments as soon as the banking channels are restored.

* This sudden stoppage of operations and stoppage of payments of SAOL has adversely affected us the 20 lakh Indians who are the panelists of the company.

All the 20 lakh Panelists had joined the business module to enhance their earnings and see a positive change in their living standards and until May 2011 have experienced the fruits of this association many of whom have experienced a total positive change in their life style.

* It has been almost three months since the monies have freezed up and still all the panelists (barring a few who have complained) are patiently waiting and support the company’s endeavor to get out of the problems and restart the operations.

* The present Association is formed, based and arising, out of support E mails received from all over the country.

* Speak Asia Association  has filed a Speak Asia PIL before the Hon. High Court at Mumbai. Which is now posted for 7th September, 2011, When the Government of Maharashtra is to file its reply.

* Some of the panelists have independently moved the Supreme court and are in the process of filing a PIL before the Hon. Supreme Court asking for ad interim relief and prayed that the monies which are seized by the authorities in India be brought under the custody of the Supreme court and under its supervision be distributed amongst the panelists.

* Important to note here that between Genx Bazaar GOA 9 - 11 May 2011organized one of the
biggest consumer gathering under the name and style of Gen X held in Baga, Goa.

* Gen X saw various reputed brands like, Provouge, Reebok, Gitanjali jewellery, American Tourister,
Samsonite, IFB Electronics, Flying Machine, TVC skyshop, and Skoda Automobiles to name a few,
display their wares for the Speakasians to purchase. A whopping over Rs. 4 to 5 crores were transacted in one day of shopping making it a record single day shopping record.

* The end of Gen X was to usher in the company’s ambitious second phase and the tag line now is “Consumer empowerment”

* The company has grown from being a survey based company and is now into as they call the 5th ‘P’ of marketing i.e. PRECISION MASS MARKETING.

* This second phase was to unleash a revolutionary phase where the company was planning to use this humongous size of its panelists and use their purchasing power to provide the panelists with international quality of products at prizes which were half of what these products are presently available at.

* We the Panelists feel that because of the unprecedented success of the company and its unveiling of its revolutionary new product based platform, has sent jitters in the trade in general and caught the envy of the company’s competitors.

* This unknown enemy of the company is presently orchestrating and unleashing a vicious and malicious negative campaign against the company.

* The Architect of the campaign against the company has unknowingly harmed the interest of 20 lakh Indians and has affected lakhs of marginal players whose kitchen fires were being run on the earnings they received from SAOL.

* The stoppage of the legitimate operations of SAOL has in fact violated the basic fundamental right of each individual “The right to livelihood”

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Management needs those who practice what they preach

"Whatever the excellent and best ones do, the commoners follow," says Sri Krishna in the Gita. The
visionary leader must be a missionary, extremely practical, intensively dynamic and capable of
translating dreams into reality. This dynamism and strength of a true leader flows from an inspired
and spontaneous motivation to help others. "I am the strength of those who are devoid of personal
desire and attachment. O Arjuna, I am the legitimate desire in those, who are not opposed to
righteousness," says Sri Krishna in the 10th Chapter of the Gita.

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Manager's Mental Health

Sound mental health is the very goal of any human activity ‐ more so management. Sound mental
health is that state of mind which can maintain a calm, positive poise, or regain it when unsettled, in
the midst of all the external vagaries of work life and social existence. Internal constancy and peace
are the pre‐requisites for a healthy stress‐free mind.
Some of the impediments to sound mental health are:
• Greed ‐ for power, position, prestige and money.
• Envy ‐ regarding others' achievements, success, rewards.
• Egotism ‐ about one's own accomplishments.
• Suspicion, anger and frustration.
• Anguish through comparisons.
The driving forces in today's businesses are speed and competition. There is a distinct danger that
these forces cause erosion of the moral fiber, that in seeking the end, one permits oneself immoral
means ‐ tax evasion, illegitimate financial holdings, being "economical with the truth", deliberate
oversight in the audit, too‐clever financial reporting and so on. This phenomenon may be called as
"yayati syndrome".
In the book, the Mahabharata, we come across a king by the name of Yayati who, in order to revel in
the endless enjoyment of flesh exchanged his old age with the youth of his obliging youngest son for
a thousand years. However, he found the pursuit of sensual enjoyments ultimately unsatisfying and
came back to his son pleading him to take back his youth. This "yayati syndrome" shows the conflict
between externally directed acquisitions (extrinsic motivation) and inner value and conscience
(intrinsic motivation.)

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Utilization of available resources

The first lesson of management science is to choose wisely and utilize scarce resources optimally.
During the curtain raiser before the Mahabharata War, Duryodhana chose Sri Krishna's large army
for his help while Arjuna selected Sri Krishna's wisdom for his support. This episode gives us a clue as
to the nature of the effective manager ‐ the former chose numbers, the latter, wisdom.

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Work Commitment

A popular verse of the Gita advises "detachment" from the fruits or results of actions performed in
the course of one's duty. Being dedicated work has to mean "working for the sake of work,
generating excellence for its own sake." If we are always calculating the date of promotion or the
rate of commission before putting in our efforts, then such work is not detached. It is not
"generating excellence for its own sake" but working only for the extrinsic reward that may (or may
not) result.
Working only with an eye to the anticipated benefits, means that the quality of performance of the
current job or duty suffers ‐ through mental agitation of anxiety for the future. In fact, the way the
world works means that events do not always respond positively to our calculations and hence
expected fruits may not always be forthcoming. So, the Gita tells us not to mortgage present
commitment to an uncertain future.
Some people might argue that not seeking the business result of work and actions makes one
unaccountable. In fact, the Bhagavad Gita is full of advice on the theory of cause and effect, making
the doer responsible for the consequences of his deeds. While advising detachment from the avarice
of selfish gains in discharging one's accepted duty, the Gita does not absolve anybody of the
consequences arising from discharge of his or her responsibilities.
Thus the best means of effective performance management is the work itself. Attaining this state of
mind (called "nishkama karma") is the right attitude to work because it prevents the ego, the mind,
from dissipation of attention through speculation on future gains or losses.

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The source of the problem

The reasons for this sorry state of affairs are not far to seek. The Western idea of management
centers on making the worker (and the manager) more efficient and more productive. Companies
offer workers more to work more, produce more, sell more and to stick to the organization without
looking for alternatives. The sole aim of extracting better and more work from the worker is to
improve the bottom‐line of the enterprise. The worker has become a hirable commodity, which can
be used, replaced and discarded at will.
Thus, workers have been reduced to the state of a mercantile product. In such a state, it should
come as no surprise to us that workers start using strikes (gheraos) sit‐ins, (dharnas) go‐slows, workto‐
rule etc. to get maximum benefit for themselves from the organizations. Society‐at‐large is
damaged. Thus we reach a situation in which management and workers become separate and
contradictory entities with conflicting interests. There is no common goal or understanding. This,
predictably, leads to suspicion, friction, disillusion and mistrust, with managers and workers at cross
purposes. The absence of human values and erosion of human touch in the organizational structure
has resulted in a crisis of confidence.
Western management philosophy may have created prosperity – for some people some of the time
at least ‐ but it has failed in the aim of ensuring betterment of individual life and social welfare. It has
remained by and large a soulless edifice and an oasis of plenty for a few in the midst of poor quality
of life for many.
Hence, there is an urgent need to re‐examine prevailing management disciplines ‐ their objectives,
scope and content. Management should be redefined to underline the development of the worker
as a person, as a human being, and not as a mere wage‐earner. With this changed perspective,
management can become an instrument in the process of social, and indeed national, development.
Now let us re‐examine some of the modern management concepts in the light of the Bhagavad Gita
which is a primer of management‐by‐values.

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Old truths in a new context

The Bhagavad Gita, written thousands of years ago, enlightens us on all managerial techniques
leading us towards a harmonious and blissful state of affairs in place of the conflict, tensions, poor
productivity, absence of motivation and so on, common in most of Indian enterprises today – and
probably in enterprises in many other countries.
The modern (Western) management concepts of vision, leadership, motivation, excellence in work,
achieving goals, giving work meaning, decision making and planning, are all discussed in the
Bhagavad Gita. There is one major difference. While Western management thought too often deals
with problems at material, external and peripheral levels, the Bhagavad Gita tackles the issues from
the grass roots level of human thinking. Once the basic thinking of man is improved, it will
automatically enhance the quality of his actions and their results.
The management philosophy emanating from the West is based on the lure of materialism and on a
perennial thirst for profit, irrespective of the quality of the means adopted to achieve that goal. This
phenomenon has its source in the abundant wealth of the West and so 'management by
materialism' has caught the fancy of all the countries the world over, India being no exception to this
trend. My country, India, has been in the forefront in importing these ideas mainly because of its
centuries old indoctrination by colonial rulers, which has inculcated in us a feeling that anything
Western is good and anything Indian, is inferior.
The result is that, while huge funds have been invested in building temples of modem management
education, no perceptible changes are visible in the improvement of the general quality of life ‐
although the standards of living of a few has gone up. The same old struggles in almost all sectors of
the economy, criminalization of institutions, social violence, exploitation and other vices are seen
deep in the body politic.

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Gita Saar for Management Gurus (In Short)

One of the greatest contributions of India to the world is Holy Gita which is considered to be one of the first revelations from God.
Bhagavad‐Gita the essence of Vedic Literature and a complete guide to practical
life. It provides "all that is needed to raise the consciousness of man to the highest possible level."
Arjuna got mentally depressed when he saw his relatives with whom he has to fight.
(Mental health has become a major international public health concern now). To motivate him the
Bhagavad Gita is preached in the battle field Kurukshetra by Lord Krishna to Arjuna as counseling to
do his duty while multitudes of men stood by waiting. It has got all the management tactics to
achieve the mental equilibrium and to overcome any crisis situation. The Bhagavad Gita can be
experienced as a powerful catalyst for transformation. Bhagavad Gita means song of the Spirit, song
of the Lord. The Holy Gita has become a secret driving force behind the unfoldment of one's life. In
the days of doubt this divine book will support all spiritual searches. This divine book will contribute
to self reflection, finer feeling and deepen one's inner process. Then life in the world can become a
real education—dynamic, full and joyful—no matter what the circumstance. May the wisdom of
loving consciousness ever guide us on our journey? What makes the Holy Gita a practical psychology
of transformation is that it offers us the tools to connect with our deepest intangible essence and we
must learn to participate in the battle of life with right knowledge?
The Holy Gita is the essence of the Vedas, Upanishads. It is a universal scripture applicable to people
of all temperaments and for all times. It is a book with sublime thoughts and practical instructions on
Yoga, Devotion, Vedanta and Action. It is profound in thought and sublime in heights of vision. It
brings peace and solace to souls that are afflicted by the three fires of mortal existence, namely,
afflictions caused by one's own body (disease etc), those caused by beings around one (e.g. wild
animals, snakes etc.), and those caused by the gods (natural disasters, earth‐quakes, floods etc).
Mind can be one's friend or enemy. Mind is the cause for both bondage and liberation. The word
mind is derived from man to think and the word man derived from Manu (Sanskrit word for man).
"The Supreme Lord is situated in everyone's heart, O Arjuna, and is directing the wanderings of all
living entities, who are seated as on a machine, made of the material energy."
There is no theory to be internalized and applied in this psychology. Ancient practices spontaneously
induce what each person needs as the individual and the universal coincide. The work proceeds
through intellectual knowledge of the playing field (jnana yoga), emotional devotion to the ideal
(bhakti yoga) and right action that includes both feeling and knowledge (karma yoga). With ongoing
purification we approach wisdom. The Bhagavad Gita is a message addressed to each and every
human individual to help him or her to solve the vexing problem of overcoming the present and
progressing towards a bright future. Within its eighteen chapters is revealed a human drama. This is
the experience of everyone in this world, the drama of the ascent of man from a state of utter
dejection, sorrow and total breakdown and hopelessness to a state of perfect understanding, clarity,
renewed strength and triumph.
Mind is very restless, forceful and strong, O Krishna, it is more difficult to control the mind than to
control the wind ~ Arjuna to Sri Krishna

In this modern world the art of Management has become a part and parcel of everyday life, be it at
home, in the office or factory and in Government. In all organizations, where a group of human
beings assemble for a common purpose irrespective of caste, creed, and religion, management
principles come into play through the management of resources, finance and planning, priorities,
policies and practice. Management is a systematic way of carrying out activities in any field of
human effort.
Its task is to make people capable of joint performance, to make their weaknesses irrelevant, says
the Management Guru Peter Drucker. It creates harmony in working together ‐ equilibrium in
thoughts and actions, goals and achievements, plans and performance, products and markets. It
resolves situations of scarcity, be they in the physical, technical or human fields, through maximum
utilization with the minimum available processes to achieve the goal. Lack of management causes
disorder, confusion, wastage, delay, destruction and even depression. Managing men, money and
materials in the best possible way, according to circumstances and environment, is the most
important and essential factor for a successful management. It should literally transform how people
think and help them finally realize the potential of a truly universal knowledge that is wisdom.

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Management guidelines from the Bhagavad Gita

• There is an important distinction between effectiveness and efficiency in managing.
• Effectiveness is doing the right things.
• Efficiency is doing things right.
• The general principles of effective management can be applied in every field, the differences
being more in application than in principle. The Manager's functions can be summed up as:
• Forming a vision
• Planning the strategy to realize the vision.
• Cultivating the art of leadership.
• Establishing institutional excellence.
• Building an innovative organization.
• Developing human resources.
• Building teams and teamwork.
• Delegation, motivation, and communication.
• Reviewing performance and taking corrective steps when called for.

Thus, management is a process of aligning people and getting them committed to work for a
common goal to the maximum social benefit ‐ in search of excellence.
The critical question in all managers' minds is how to be effective in their job. The answer to this
fundamental question is found in the Bhagavad Gita, which repeatedly proclaims that "you must try
to manage yourself." The reason is that unless a manager reaches a level of excellence and
effectiveness, he or she will be merely a face in the crowd.

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Bhagavad Gita and Management World Management Lessons from India

The despondency of Arjuna in the first chapter of the Gita is typically human. Sri Krishna, by sheer
power of his inspiring words, changes Arjuna's mind from a state of inertia to one of righteous
action, from the state of what the French philosophers call "anomie" or even alienation, to a state of
self‐confidence in the ultimate victory of "dharma" (ethical action.)
When Arjuna got over his despondency and stood ready to fight, Sri Krishna reminded him of the
purpose of his new‐found spirit of intense action ‐ not for his own benefit, not for satisfying his own
greed and desire, but for the good of many, with faith in the ultimate victory of ethics over unethical
actions and of truth over untruth.
Sri Krishna's advice with regard to temporary failures is, "No doer of good ever ends in misery."
Every action should produce results. Good action produces good results and evil begets nothing but
evil. Therefore, always act well and be rewarded.
My purport is not to suggest discarding of the Western model of efficiency, dynamism and striving
for excellence but to tune these ideals to India's holistic attitude of "lokasangraha" ‐ for the welfare
of many, for the good of many. There is indeed a moral dimension to business life. What we do in
business is no different, in this regard, to what we do in our personal lives. The means do not justify
the ends. Pursuit of results for their own sake is ultimately self‐defeating. ("Profit," said Matsushitasan
in another tradition "is the reward of correct behavior." – Ed.)

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