• The count of unique startups being funded in India is diminishing at a rate of -7% year on year from 2015 to 2018
• The low median age of the Indian population and rising disposable income has created a big opportunity for startup services and products
• Government policy changes and regulatory hurdles have suppressed startup supply and growth despite rising demands in India

Today, Asia is the biggest internet market in the world — about 50% of the total 4.4 Bn plus internet users in the world are based out of Asian countries, and around 63% (or 1.38 Bn) of these users are based in China and India alone. The significance of Asian countries (especially India and China) in the global consumer internet market can be interpreted from the fact that as of June 2019, about 31% of the total internet users in the world hail from these two Asian giants.

But just a few decades back, the United States of America was considered the only economy for a scalable and sustainable market for consumer internet products. This can be attributed to the fact that the penetration of the internet in other countries was comparatively lower in comparison to the US.

In the year 2000, the percentage of internet users to the total population of the United States (43%) towered over India (0.52%) and China (1.78%). Today, the combined internet user base of India and China is 4x higher than the total number of internet users of North America.

The technology revolution enabled by tech startups in India and China has been the driving force behind increasing this development. Although the internet as a service is still dominated by established business tycoons in both markets, the utility of internet and technology among the masses in both India and China can be credited to new-age tech startups. The shift in investor confidence from western startup economies to Asia is also due to changing consumer market landscape in Asian in terms of rising household income, increased access to internet and favourable policies, whereas in the US, the consumer market was already mature and as a result many sectors have reached saturation point in the US.

China Set To Usurp Silicon Valley’s Place In Global Startup Landscape

 

 

Although the Indian startup ecosystem has come a long way since 2015 when compared to the prominent global startup ecosystem such as the United States and China, the progress made by the Indian startup ecosystem so far looks paltry.