India to add $2T tech market cap in next decade: Accel partner

India is poised to add nearly $2 trillion in market capitalisation through technology over the next decade, creating large companies, which will reshape the country's economic landscape, said VC firm Accel on Wednesday.

"India is going to add $2 trillion of market cap using technology in the next decade," said Accel Partner Prayank Swaroop while speaking at the ongoing AI Impact Summit.

Technology companies currently account for only 4-5% of India's overall market capitalisation, however, he projected that this share could rise sharply to 15-20% in the next 10 years.

"This means there are going to be lots and lots of $100 billion companies that will get created," Swaroop said, adding that it would be a "massive jump".

This is an opportunity that is available for Indians in India, from India and for the world, the venture capitalist added.

Highlighting the role of artificial intelligence (AI), Swaroop said "what we are seeing in AI today is very fast. But it's going to get even faster in the next few years".

He said the focus of startups and founders should be to "build for Bharat" with cost-effective solutions.

He explained as how AI can "bring down the cost of healthcare, the cost of education for everyone and we are starting to invest in these businesses".

Accel has identified some areas where a lot of value can be created as use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is going to bring down the cost of services.

He said AI has the potential to dramatically reduce the cost of services, particularly in sectors such as healthcare, education and financial planning.

"Think of (services at) Rs 100 per month -- you get a teacher, a doctor, a financial planner, a banker, or even someone to talk to for mental health," he said, adding, "There are a lot of things today which are possible with AI. Which people can create. Which are needed by India. And the customer base in India is huge."

Founded in 1983, Accel is a global venture capital firm headquartered in Palo Alto, California. It focuses on early and growth-stage investments in technology sectors, including cloud, SaaS, consumer, enterprise, fintech, security, and AI.

Accel, which has backed several successful Indian ventures, is actively investing in businesses positioned to benefit from these trends, he said.

The firm believes that the convergence of AI, agent-based systems, robotics, and advanced manufacturing will create new opportunities for entrepreneurs, driving innovation and value creation in the country's technology ecosystem.

"Large language models (LLMs) may have dominated the technology conversation last year, but the focus is quickly shifting to agent-based systems and, soon, to robotics," he said, adding, "The curve of improvement of this technology is going to become even faster."

The venture capitalist highlighted that several companies are scaling at remarkable speed, with some reaching revenues of $100-200 million in less than a year.

He emphasised that the rapid growth is not limited to global markets alone.

Indian startups are also benefiting from strong investor interest and technological adoption, positioning themselves for global competitiveness.

"The good part for all of us here is that there is enough capital available in India if founders want to build businesses with it," Swaroop said, underlining the supportive funding environment.

Its optimism around India’s technology-led market capitalisation growth reflects broader structural shifts in the economy, including rapid digital adoption, expansion of internet penetration, growth of digital public infrastructure, and a maturing startup ecosystem.

Over the past decade, initiatives such as the Unified Payments Interface and Aadhaar-enabled services have demonstrated how technology platforms can scale to hundreds of millions of users, creating new markets and formalising large segments of the economy.

India is currently the world’s third-largest startup ecosystem by number of startups, with strong momentum in fintech, SaaS, deeptech and AI-led enterprises. Venture funding cycles have become more disciplined after the 2021–22 peak, but dry powder with domestic and global funds remains substantial.

Accel’s projection aligns with expectations that AI, automation, robotics and advanced manufacturing will drive productivity gains across sectors, potentially giving rise to multiple globally competitive, $100-billion-scale companies rooted in India but serving international markets.

(With inputs from PTI)