India added 26 unicorns this year, ranks highest in daily startups addition: Invest India CEO Deepak Bagla

Invest India CEO Deepak Bagla on Friday said that India is number three in the world in terms of number of unicorns, second in number of startups and stands first in the number of startups added everyday. At an event organised by the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, he also said that this year, one out of every 10 unicorns has been born in India and the country has added 26 unicorns this year, taking the total to 63.

“India has 739 districts and over 85% of them have a startup which is registered with the government. The solutions these startups bring are easily executable and economical. That’s the strength of this innovation.” Bagla said.

He also said that in the last 60 months, over a thousand research and development centres of multinational corporations opened in the country and today India is the number one destination for such centres of MNCs outside of their headquarters.

“The inherent strength of our MSMEs and entrepreneurs and their ability to be nimble in their operations has fast tracked innovation,” he said.

On India receiving $81.72 billion foreign direct investment (FDI) in FY21, the highest ever, Bagla said, “In global FDI positioning, we moved from number 10 to 5 within one year itself… This $81 billion came from 89 countries and across 63 sectors and green energy and sustainability are in top 5 of those.”

Emphasising that growth today can’t be any other colour but green and it has to be sustainable, he said India’s population would be 1.5 billion by 2025-26 and being sustainable is crucial.

Referring to the Paris climate agreement, he said India is probably the only country which is ahead of the milestones required.

“The other element is the entire supply chain element in this industry- be it solar, hydrogen, and these are critical if you want to create the position of a market leader,” Bagla said.

On the issue of financing green energy, he said the cost of green power has become much lower and competitive to many traditional forms of fuel, and that India has the cheapest solar and wind power and hoped to see the same with hydrogen as more scales are achieved.