Fuelled by the sharp focus of the government on nurturing startups and ready adoption by the middle class, D2C has introduced a slew of digital-first brands into the lives of Indians
In 2022, there were an estimated 2,000 D2C brands in India doing business worth $12 Bn. The number is expected to go up to 10,000 with a business size of $60 Bn in the next five years alone. And that’s just in India.
What happens if some of these brands go further than Indian shores? What if a significant number of these 10,000 manage to go global?
733. That’s the number of startups recognised by the DPIIT in 2016. Now compare that to the 84,012 startups DPIIT has recognised as of 2022-end and you realise just how entrepreneurial the Indian landscape is today. Entrepreneurship is now a pan-Indian phenomenon, with startups being founded in ‘emerging hubs.’ Last year, it was reported that 555 districts in India had at least one new startup last year. Today’s founders don’t just come from Coimbatore, Jaipur, Surat, Kanpur, Indore, Ahmedabad, and Erode; they also run their businesses from those cities.
India already has the third largest startup ecosystem in the world, having accelerated sharply on the back of growing internet penetration, rise in smartphone adoption, innovation in mobile technologies, and increased adoption of digital payments. Ecommerce, in particular, is growing at an estimated 18% annually, according to a Worldpay FIS report, and it forms the backdrop against which the current crop of D2C brands stands tall.