10 startups will have all their wishes fulfilled, thanks to PwC

The big four’s PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) is planning to mentor 10 handpicked startups in India.

As per an Economic Times report, PwC is planning to provide assistance on the matters of taxation and fundraising. On condition of anonymity, a senior PwC executive told the financial daily that "According to Indian laws, auditors cannot invest or pick up stake in any Indian company. So, PwC would neither invest any money in these startups nor will it own any stake in these firms. What we would do is mentor them through their growth cycle."

If reports are to be believed, a team of ten experts has been formed already within PwC, which will supervise on matters like taxation, regulation, investment and risk advisory to handhold the startup. The team will act as advisors and it won’t charge any fee, reports mentioned.

One of the PwC’s arch-rival executive, requesting anonymity, asked, "If they are not charging any fees for their advice, what is it for them in the deal?" On which, a PwC executive, who was not allowed to comment on the matter replied in a lighter way and said, "Well, the only hope is that at least two of the ten startups would become tomorrow's Flipkart or Snapdeal. And when they do, they would prefer PwC for their activities like IPOs or other services."

Another PwC executive said, "There are a lot of small problems like (in) fundraising, public relations, taxation, auditing, hiring and overseas expansion which could become a big roadblock for a startup. These, however, are solved daily at a much larger scale in much bigger companies in consultancies, and consultants can bring this experience to the table."

While responding to an e-mail query by ET, PwC spokesperson replied, "We are firming up a plan to mentor and nurture select startups and will roll out a customized program soon. With the right kind of strengthening and guidance related to their unique needs, be it for their funding or expansion plans, we feel these startups have immense business potential."

The other three from the big four - EY, Deloitte and KPMG — however, don't seem to be working on such plans in India as of now. Though some of them has offer handholding services to startups elsewhere and not in India. EY, for instance, has something similar at a global level."EY has an exclusive mentoring program, Accelerating Entrepreneurs, which is designed to help high-potential entrepreneurs around the world scale up their business through one-to-one guidance, networking and insight sharing," EY responded on an email query by ET.

Deloitte, on the other hand, has a similar and a much thriving model in Japan, where it has helped a number of startups to grow. A senior Deloitte India executive said: "There are a lot of international models which could be brought to India including this (startup incubation) one. However, we are very cautious as we do not want to enter any new space when there are already bigger issues at hand, like the change in Indian regulations."

Image: indiatimes