‘Bengaluru is absolutely the startup capital of the country’: PhonePe’s Sameer Nigam

Bengaluru is the startup capital of the country and anyone counting startups in Delhi and terming it to be the startup capital is making up stuff, PhonePe co-founder Sameer Nigam said. “Let's at least apply a 5 percent quality threshold and assume that we're talking about legit companies. Bengaluru is absolutely the startup capital of the country,” Nigam said.

Speaking to Moneycontrol’s Chandra R Srikanth at the CNNNews18 Townhall, Nigam said that a country the size of India needs multiple Bengalurus in the next five to seven years. “Many talented people are graduating and looking for jobs and Bengaluru can't accommodate all of them,” he said.

The city has the kind of “urban sprawl” that Mumbai saw when parts of Navi Mumbai and other parts were coming up, he added.

“We're going through the same journey. So is it perfect? No. Is it easy to commute? No. I think what ticks for Bengaluru-- best weather in the country. Maybe outside of the Northeast but the best weather in the country,” he said.

The startup ecosystem has benefited because the IT doyens set up a “technology pathos” in the city, he added.

Additionally, there is residential availability for young people in Bengaluru in a way that Mumbai can't dream of currently, which also works in the city’s favour, as startups need young talent, who are economic migrants, the PhonePe co-founder explained.

“Even now, when we move people from Mumbai, they find the cost of living more affordable. Per square foot, whether you're renting or you're buying, it's cheaper. I think that's important because people who are working 50-60 hours a week need to be able to go back home and at least be able to relax… In fact, on a normal day, I genuinely believe the city has more supply than demand on housing, which is a fantastic place to be if you're growing for the next 20 years,” he said.

The final factor that works for Bengaluru is the presence of a full ecosystem needed for startups, he said.

“When Flipkart was starting, at least, when I joined them in 2011, the city didn't have enough designers. Mumbai was the arts capital, it didn't have enough product managers. We're building fintechs today. The financial services ecosystem was non-existent. Now, we have the best of talent across every sector in the country here in Bengaluru,” he said.

“I think there's a self-fulfilling prophecy. Once you have that ecosystem, it's very, very hard for any startup to scale in other cities, because the minute you need some scale, you need 400-500 really smart people. They want to be here. It's affordable, the weather's fantastic. The food is great. There's good nightlife, these are all the things that young people want,” he added.