Shared economy in India to be USD 2 bn industry by 2020-end: Maple Capital

Shared economy in India is poised to become a USD 2 billion industry by the end of the year, a report by Maple Capital Advisors said on Thursday Also, such services attracted about USD 3.5 billion worth of private equity, and USD 262 million in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) between 2015-19, the report titled 'Shared Economy - India Story' said.

The sector, predominantly driven by shared mobility, co-working, co-living and furniture rentals, is pegged to be an about USD 2 billion industry in the organised-end and growing in double digits, it said In 2019, the segment was estimated to be about USD 1.5 billion in size in India.

Shared economy includes segments like co-working (Awfis, WeWork India), co-living (Stanza Living, OYO Life, Oxford Caps), shared mobility (Uber, Ola, Shuttl) and furniture rental (Furlenco, Rentomojo.) "High mobile penetration, high millennial concentration, and an aspirational population, Asia has highest willingness to use shared assets. India mirrors Asia trends in these aspects and is thus, poised for high growth and adoption of shared services," it added Maple Capital Advisors Managing Director Pankaj Karna said India is at the cusp of a shared economy revolution.

"We are already witnessing phenomenal growth in this segment with both international companies and home-grown start-ups vying for market share. Even as the space is nascent over USD 3.7 billion has been invested in this space," he said Karna added that this is expected to accelerate on the back of compelling demand and unit economics..