India continues to be world's 3rd largest startup hub, adds 1,300 startups this year

Not just this, India also witnessed the addition of seven Unicorns in the first eight months of 2019, taking the total to 24. This is the third-highest number of Unicorns in a single country in the world, after the USA and China, that have 203 and 206 Unicorns, respectively.

The startups have generated an estimated 60,000 direct jobs and 1.3-1.8 lakh indirect jobs this year, Nasscom said.

Nasscom added that the trend seen over the year indicated that startups were focussing more towards the B2B space as almost 50 percent of the country's total startups were into enterprise-focused services.

More than 18 percent startups are now leveraging deep-tech, meaning there are over 1,600 such companies in the country. The number constituted only 8 percent of startups established in 2014 but has witnessed a 40 percent CAGR over the past five years, the report said.

Although startups have shown steady and sustained growth, Nasscom says the government and corporates need to focus on increasing their role as prominent stakeholders in startups to stimulate innovation.

Nasscom expects that the Indian Unicorn club could grow to 95-105 in 2025. The startups would have a cumulative valuation of $350-390 billion by the year, it added.