India is soon expected to lead as a unicorn destination with most billion-dollar valuation start-ups emerging out of the country. Due to the close integration of start-ups and conglomerates for delivering tech-enhanced services, the country is expected to churn most number of unicorn companies, a joint report by CREDAI, CBRE said this week. India is currently the third-largest destination for start-ups in the world and fourth in creating unicorns. In 2018, eight unicorns emerged out of India including the food aggregator Zomato, Oyo, Byju’s, Paytm subsidiary Paytm Mall, Udaan and Swiggy. As of now, India’s unicorn start-ups number is just behind the US, the UK and China.
With the start-up base growing by 12-15% on an annual basis, India is also a hotbed for those workers who couldn’t secure employment in the US due to tighter visa rules. The report clearly said that given the skill sets of these migrants, their presence in India would contribute significantly to the entrepreneurial evolution in the country, particularly from the perspective of a start-up culture.
Housing- Budding start-up venture
The rise in the workforce also requires catering to the housing needs of such population groups. With the new workforce consisting largely of youth population, the needs of such population are also unique. The report further stated that start-ups are tapping into this unexplored segment to cater to the demand; these start-ups target both professionals (co-living) and students (student housing) to expand their horizon.
Demand for student housing is also going to witness an uptick as there has been a 67% increase in the student population and a 29% increase in the number of universities since 2010. Hyderabad, Pune, Bengaluru, Chennai, Indore and Kota will largely drive the growth of the industry.
Outlook for start-ups: Adopting technology to solve India’s problems
The changing global work patterns and pro-technology government is expected to disrupt technology adoption among start-ups. The start-up ecosystem is expected to dive headfirst into the race to apply these technologies to solve unique Indian problems in sectors as diverse as agriculture, urban transport, energy management, affordable healthcare, among others.
Source: Financial Express
