Are Education Loans Killing Startup Imagination in Business Schools?

Business schools today talk passionately about entrepreneurship, yet the energy in many classrooms tells another story. Recently, when I was invited—at very short notice—to teach a session on the MSME startup ecosystem and share my own journey, I entered the lecture hall with optimism, expecting curiosity, debate, and idea-driven enthusiasm. Instead, I saw something else: the new generation listens attentively, but rarely interacts; they absorb the content but hesitate to discuss; they attend the class but avoid engaging with opportunities right in front of them.

I opened just the first slide and chose to speak without PPTs, walking them through real startup cases, MSME struggles, my own entrepreneurial risks, early failures, and the long hours required to build anything meaningful. Yet even with repeated encouragement, only a handful of students raised questions or engaged in meaningful conversation. It made me reflect deeply on a contradiction: business schools celebrate innovation, yet the students inside them seem cautious, constrained, and risk-averse.

A quiet truth emerges — education loans may be silently shaping career choices, almost forcing students to prioritise job security over entrepreneurial exploration. The burden of repayment creates a psychological pressure that makes “risk” look dangerous, “startups” look unpredictable, and “ideas” feel like distractions from the urgent need for financial stability. Networking, experimentation, exploration — the building blocks of entrepreneurship — take a back seat. Students today want safe jobs not because they lack ambition, but because they cannot afford uncertainty.

This doesn’t mean talent is missing. It simply means the system is conditioning students to optimise for survival rather than innovation. A student with a ₹10–20 lakh loan considers EMI before ideas. They cannot experiment freely. They cannot fail safely. They cannot afford the “garage startup phase” that global founders once enjoyed.

The result? Business schools produce excellent managers but hesitant founders. A nation with the world’s youngest population risks losing its entrepreneurial spark to the pressure of monthly repayment cycles. If India wants more startups, it must create a financial ecosystem where a 23-year-old can dream without fear.

This moment reminded me that ideas are not missing. The freedom to chase them is.

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