Add to it intensive state bureaucracy and need to "grease it" everywhere you go and when whatever you are trying to do.

> Most of the wealth lies in a handful of cities. Margins outside are wafer thin to non existent.

Focusing entirely on large cities and ignoring the hinterland is a perfectly viable option. In fact that is what most consumer businesses in India do.

36% of India lives in urban areas and that number is increasing rapidly. It's by no means an easy market due to a multitude of reasons (infra, supply chain, politics, corruption, you name it), but if you can pull it off there's plenty of money to be made just in the Tier 1 metros.

India, like Brazil is perpetually the "country of the future".

A huge addressable market ≠ A market that wants to be addressed.

I mean to be fair, you also see this in the US and Europe, especially in de-industrialized areas that have had population flight.

The street hawkers are also remarkably underestimated. They manage inventory, prices, and know their customer base FAR better than any large org could. They know the upcoming events, have lower prices, don't pay taxes etc.