10,500 startups in India by 2020: Nasscom-Zinnov report

India has retained its position as the third largest startup ecosystem in the world after US and UK, according to Nasscom-Zinnov start-up report. Fintech, Healthtech, Edutech, data analytics, B2B commerce and artificial intelligence are the major areas of interest.

In the report, titled “Indian Start-up Ecosystem Maturing – 2016,” the findings say that the Indian startup ecosystem poised to grow 2.2 times to reach 10,500 by 2020 despite a perception that the ecosystem in the country has slowed down in the last year. Bengaluru, NCR, and Mumbai continue to be the major startup destinations and nearly 1,400 new start-ups are expected by end of 2016, up by 8-10 percent from last year. A growth of 25 per cent has been witnessed in 2016 with over 350 start-ups being founded by young students. The median age of start-up founders has reduced marginally from 32 years in 2015 to 31 years in 2016.

The report further reveals that the number of tech start-ups in India is expected to grow by 10-12 per cent to over 4,750 by the end of 2016, which will make 10,500 start-ups by 2020, employing over 2,10,000 people. In addition, there is a 40 percent increase in the number of active incubators and accelerators in 2016 with 30 new academic incubators emerging under government’s Start Up India initiative.

“The start-up landscape in the country is becoming the epitome of innovation, with companies bringing out solutions that are aimed at solving locally relevant issues. Nasscom believes that the contribution by start-ups has been growing at a rapid rate and the landscape has a huge potential in terms of business stability, revenue growth, and further innovation,” said Nasscom Chairman C P Gurnani said in a statement.