Since 2014, India's startups have absorbed about $165 billion of risk capital, yet most of the country's best-known digital platforms are still loss-making a decade or more on. Techarc's Burn Economy report asks whether that capital built value in proportion to what it consumed.
By Faisal Kawoosa, Chief Analyst and Co-founder · Read the full analysis
Techarc's Burn Economy report studied sixteen of India's best-known digital platforms. The capital they absorbed is close to half of the ₹30 lakh crore credit gap that India's MSMEs still cannot fill, yet most remain loss-making, and the few that turned profitable did so on thin margins. Blinkit turned EBITDA-positive at 0.6% of order value, and Paytm took fifteen years to post a full-year profit.
The habits that discounting built have not fully stuck. After nearly two decades, e-commerce is 7–9% of Indian retail, and only about 30% of internet users shop online, compared with 92% in China. Roughly nine in ten retail rupees are still spent offline.
About $165 billion of risk capital since 2014, according to Techarc's Burn Economy report.
Most are still loss-making a decade or more on. Where profits come, they arrive after 12–18 years and on thin margins.
About 7–9% of retail, and only around 30% of internet users shop online.
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