Datanomics: Consumption, not technology, powers India's startup boom

A decade into Startup India, most Indian unicorns are clustered in consumer and finance, highlighting limited depth in enterprise tech and frontier technologies like AI

As India marks a decade of the Startup India initiative on the National Startup Day (January 16), the composition of its ecosystem highlights limited depth on the technology and enterprise front. According to the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), only 1.5 per cent of recognised startups are in the space of AI, pointing to relatively shallow penetration into these frontier enterprise-grade technologies.

 

IT, health care services dominate startup ecosystem

 

The largest share of recognised startups is in information-technology services, health care, education, and agriculture 

 

Unicorns cluster in consumer and finance

 

Over half of India’s unicorns are in consumer and retail and financial services sector. Enterprise and core tech form a smaller share 

 

India a distant third in unicorns 

 

Its 69 unicorns make India third globally, but the gap with the US and China remains wide.