AFTER pumping billions of dollars into Indian Internet startups in the last 24 months, global investors are cutting that flood back to a trickle as dreams of huge online sales are clouded by soaring valuations and still-distant profits.

    Even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi lines up a four-year, US$1.5 billion government fund to help startups create jobs, entrepreneurs fear that may prove a drop in the ocean. Venture capitalists have already tightened purse strings as ripples from China’s economic slowdown lap around the world.

    According to a new report by CB Insights and KPMG, venture capital investments in India’s startups nearly halved to US$1.5 billion in the fourth quarter of 2015 from the July-September period. Faltering startups could mean India missing out on huge potential.

    “While the first phase of funding was about investing in big markets... now investors want to look at how entrepreneurs manage their business and compete while investing,” said Niren Shah, India head of Norwest Venture Partners.

    Modi’s plan for newly launched companies includes tax breaks on their first three years of profits, as well as their investors.

    But most of India’s tech startups make losses, not profits. They follow a discount-driven business model aimed at generating revenue from customers that buy and sell goods and services, touting growth in “gross merchandise value” on their platforms as a metric to attract funding. (SD-Agencies)