Indian tech startup boom to see 250,000 employed by 2020: Nasscom

The country will witness a mushrooming of technology startups over the next five years, creating massive employment opportunities, industry body Nasscom has said. “By 2020, total number of technology startups and product companies will be around 11,500 employing about 2.5 lakh people from the current 65,000 people,” Nasscom Chairman R Chandrasekaran told the industry’s annual leadership summit. He also called for repositioning of the IT sector as one that drives innovation and creates value for clients, beyond simply being an off-shoring option and extended the lobby’s full support for the digital India, and the make in initiatives of the Modi government. But he did not offer any details on how such a transformation should be initiated. Yesterday, the umbrella body of the IT-BPO industry had said the country would be housing the second biggest startup ecosystem in the world after the US over the next two years and noted that as many as 800 new technology startups have set up shops so far this fiscal in the country. “We expect that within the next couple of years, we will have the second biggest startup ecosystem in the world,” Nasscom president R Chandrashekhar had told reporters adding the rate at which the startups are growing was much faster than Britain and Israel, which are ranked between India and worldwide leader US at present. In 2014, the country witnessed 800 new companies starting up, taking the total number of startups to 3,100, Nasscom had said. Nasscom said tech startups have received over $2.3 billion (roughly Rs. 14,330 crores) in funding since 2010, while over 70 private equity and venture capital funds remain active in the segment. It added that apart from this, there were over 62 angels active in 2014. Apart from that, there are over 80 incubators and startup accelerators operating in the country at present. PTI