MUMBAI: India has emerged as the third largest start-up base and such ventures are 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, says a report. 

India is in the third position just behind US and UK, and nearly 1,400 new start-ups are expected by end of 2016, up by 8-10 per cent from last year, revealed the “Indian Startup Ecosystem Maturing – 2016” report by Nasscom-ZINNOV.

The report also finds that Bengaluru, NCR, and Mumbai continue to lead as the major start-up hubs in the country. 

In terms of vertical growth, investors are looking at domains like health-tech, fin-tech, and edu-tech. With a total funding of approximately USD 4 billion, close to 650 start-ups were funded signifying a healthy growth of the ecosystem, the report said. 

“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 have 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. 

According to the report, 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. 

With this impetus, India will become home to over 10,500 start-ups by 2020, employing over 2,10,000 people, reveals the report. 

It added that there is a 40 per cent increase in the number of active incubators and accelerators in 2016 with impetus from government and corporates. 

Over 30 new academic incubators have been established under the government’s ‘Start-up India Stand-up India’ initiative this year, and tier-II/III cities have established 66 per cent of the new incubators, it added. 

The report also reveals an increased interest from student entrepreneurs this year. A growth of 25 per cent has been witnessed in 2016 with over 350 start-ups being founded by young students. 

With regard to investments, the report states that investors are increasingly looking at opportunities in start-ups in areas other than online retailing. 

Ventures in Fintech, Healthtech, Edutech, data analytics, B2B commerce and artificial intelligence, are seeing interest, said the report.

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