India Could See a Million Startups by 2035, Predominantly from Non-Metro Areas, Says Nandan Nilekani

Infosys co-founder and Aadhaar architect Nandan Nilekani predicts that India will have one million startups by 2035, with a significant number emerging from non-metropolitan regions.

India has 150,000 startups but Nilekani expects the number to grow at a remarkable 20% annually over the next 10 years, outpacing the country's overall economic growth | Money Control

Currently, India has around 150,000 startups, but Nilekani anticipates a remarkable 20% annual growth rate over the next decade, surpassing the country's overall economic expansion.

"We don’t know what it means if a million companies are all roaming around trying to fix problems, … and interestingly, more and more startups are happening outside the metros, and they are solving different issues," He recently mentioned this at the Arkam Annual Meet 2025.

Referring to government data, he stated that nearly half of India's startups are located in smaller towns and cities, addressing region-specific challenges.

He highlighted Apnamart, a DMart-style retail chain catering to smaller cities, as an example of this growing trend.

“The guy who made money, I happily added cheques for the guys who want to start companies. So the whole thing is a virtuous cycle of capital and entrepreneurship,” Nilekani said, suggesting eight ways to push India’s GDP growth to 8 percent from 6 percent and expand the economy to $8 trillion by 2035.

He advocates for full-scale adoption of artificial intelligence (AI), leveraging tokenization for land monetization, investing in startups and businesses beyond metro cities, empowering 10 million MSMEs with improved access to technology, markets, and credit, formalizing the job market, streamlining regulations, decriminalizing compliance requirements, and minimizing bureaucratic hurdles to foster business growth.

Driving this transformation is India’s emerging workforce—3 million Gen Z individuals who are digital natives and AI-savvy, said Nilekani, often referred to as India’s CTO.

Path to an $8 Trillion Economy

He also outlined four key drivers—technology, capital, entrepreneurship, and formalisation—that could propel the Indian economy to an $8 trillion milestone by 2035.

India should fully embrace artificial intelligence (AI), ensuring its advantages benefit a billion people. Key focus areas for this include accessibility in Indian languages, MSMEs, agriculture, healthcare, and education.

While AI offers a wide range of applications, prioritising these sectors would have the most immediate effect on accelerating growth, he explained.

Maximising AI adoption will unlock even more economic potential, especially in capital deployment, Nilekani added.

Reaffirming his earlier views on land monetisation through tokenization and internet-based infrastructure, Nilekani stated this approach would drive momentum in capital markets and infrastructure financing.

(This Article was originally published by Money Control)