Startup investors misjudge India: Peak XV’s Anandan

‘Every decade brings a 10-fold jump in startup scaling, making it hard to envision outcomes’

- Priyamvada C & Mansi Verma

Investors have historically underestimated the total addressable market that Indian startups can disrupt, often failing to envision the scale companies can achieve in India, Rajan Anandan, managing director at Peak XV Partners, said in an interview.

“I think all of us in India, including us, underestimate how big something can get here. A decade ago, if a consumer brand scaled to ₹100 crore, everybody said ‘wow’. Now, ₹100 crore is nothing — people ask i fit can get to₹1,000 crore or even ₹8,000 crore. A decade from now, we'll be talking about ₹10,000-crore companies,” he told Mint.

Anandan said every decade in India brings a 10-fold jump, which makes it difficult for any investor to envision outcomes. “If you ask me what we underestimated, it’s the scale of India. An India at $7-8 trillion GDP will create companies far bigger than those that can be created at$4 trillion GDP. That's what to watch out for,” he said.