India Will Be Home To 10 Lakh Startups By 2035: Nandan Nilekani

Aadhaar architect and Infosys cofounder Nandan Nilekani has asserted that India will be home to more than 10 Lakh startups by 2035. 

Speaking at an event organised by Arkam Ventures, Nilekani said that while the Indian economy grows at 8%, the number of startups in the country would grow by a 20% compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) and reach the 10 Lakh mark in the next decade. 

Citing his rationale, the technocrat said that India was home to a “few thousand” startups in 2016, adding that the number currently stands at more than 1.5 Lakhs. 

Noting that the success of one startup would spawn more new-age tech ventures, Nilekani added that the number of tech companies in the country would also get a boost as employees of larger startups branch out to start their own ventures. 

“This is a generational change over 10-15 years. Due to startups built by employees of startups, we now have over 100 unicorns. And all of these new founders have been trained on what it means to be a startup. So, they bring that experience and the quality of entrepreneurs… There are already 2,000 funded startups that come out of (bigger) startups,” added Nilekani. 

He also highlighted that initial public offerings (IPOs) would also fuel the rise of the Indian startup ecosystem. “Every time we have an IPO, there’s going to be 100 more startups,” added Nilekani. 

“We don’t know what it means if a million companies are all roaming around trying to fix problems, … and interestingly, more and more startups are happening outside the metros, and they are solving different issues,” he added.

Addressing the gathering, the Infosys cofounder also underlined that technology, capital, entrepreneurship, and formalisation could potentially pave the way for pushing India’s GDP growth to 8% from 6% and expanding the local economy to $8 Tn by 2035.

He also underscored the need for going “all in” on artificial intelligence (AI) adoption, adding that it was necessary that benefits of the emerging technology reach a billion people. While noting that AI has a broad range of applications, Nilekani noted that prioritising accessibility of Indian languages, MSMEs, agriculture, health, and education while building AI tools would have the most immediate impact in accelerating growth.

At the event, he also called for building open-source AI models for various Indian languages and dialects. “The aim is to build population-scale, low-cost, and high-volume infrastructure (for AI), just like the current digital public infrastructure,” Nilekani added

The Aadhaar architect also noted that the next challenge before the country was to usher a billion Indians into the AI-driven digital economy. He called for building AI solutions tailored to India’s language diversity, and creating products catering to sectors such as agriculture, education, and healthcare.

On the growing trend of reverse flipping, Nilekani said that more and more foreign-domiciled Indian startups were returning back to the country, despite paying high taxes, to capitalise on the growing IPO boom. 

“Ghar Wapsi is happening. They’re paying a tax premium and listing here, and you see this with Zepto, Razorpay, Phonepe, Pine labs and many others. So that only shows that the Indian capital market will be the most attractive place for IPOs in the next 10 years,” he added.

This comes just days after commerce minister Piyush Goyal informed the Parliament that the country was home to over 1.61 Lakh Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT)-registered startups as of January, 2025.