India will have more than 1 lakh startups by 2025 and become a digital economy said Mohandas Pai, the Chairman of Aarin Capital.

India has 45,000 startups. They created USD 150 billion of value and they employ 7,50,000 people, he said. adding that India has 34 Unicorns. Last year we got USD 14.2 billion capital, and from 2014 till now, we have got USD 60 billion of capital.

"By 2025, India will have more than 100 thousand active startups. They will create USD 500 billion of value, employ 3.25 million people and will have 100 Unicorns. This year we may have 6-8 Unicorns, already one has come in the first month Pine Labs, so we will have many more Unicorns. India is the third largest ecosystem of technology innovation in the world, and is very large,” he told CNBC-TV18 at the TiEcon Mumbai 2020.

Talking about listing of startups Pai said, “SEBI has simplified all the norms for startups. I don’t know what is needed to be simplified because I am part of a committee which works on that, we are waiting for startups to come and tell us what more they want so that they can list. SEBI created a growth platform where it is very easy listing, the promoter issue has been done away with, the lock-in is only for six months etc. like NASDAQ. I think the people who invest in startups in India sadly are majority foreign investors. They don’t understand India as well."

"In India you can raise Rs 10,000-Rs 20,000 crore - why is that because global investors invest in India so when you have a startup to list, you have to go outside, you have to market and you have to raise money,” he added.

First Published:Jan 29, 2020 5:53 PM IST