Private Markets Hold 90% of India’s Sectoral Depth

Most investors begin with the public markets. That’s where visibility is high and movement is constant. But when you look closely at where innovation is actually happening, the picture shifts. For investors eager to help unfold the future and discover innovation and growth opportunities, private markets tend to offer earlier access to where the most dynamic ideas are taking shape.

Across sectors, the numbers speak volumes. Take healthcare. While about 350 companies in India are listed and publicly traded, over 29,000 are operating privately. The scale at which private enterprises are building solutions, products, and platforms in healthcare is immense. From diagnostics startups reinventing preventive care to digital therapeutics shaping the next phase of chronic disease management, the public healthcare stocks barely scratch the surface of the ecosystem.

Many investors believe they are already covered on healthcare through their listed holdings. A few hospital chains, a pharma major or two, maybe a diagnostics name. But that view misses where the most dynamic growth is being created. Private healthcare companies are scaling rapidly and in ways that won’t show up in your portfolio until it is too late to catch the updraft.

The consumer sector tells a similar story. While just over 600 companies trade publicly, more than 67,000 operate privately. D2C brands, ingredient innovators, local champions – this is where modern India is being built. Everyday experiences, from what people eat to how they dress, are being shaped by businesses that haven’t yet reached the public markets. In fintech, with just 68 public names and over 10,000 private players, the opportunity lies in tracking infrastructure layers, embedded finance enablers, and new-age lending models before they hit the mainstream.

But perhaps no sector captures the scale of this contrast better than space. In India, only a handful of listed companies have any meaningful exposure to space. Meanwhile, about 300 private companies are building everything from launch vehicles to satellite intelligence platforms. They’re not waiting for a mature market, they’re creating it. And for investors, these are far from being just speculative moonshots. They’re execution-first, engineering-heavy ventures that are partnering with governments and global agencies, integrating into supply chains, and solving for a future where sovereign and commercial space capability will be central to geopolitics and economic security.

SaaS, deep tech, and AI also reinforce the same structural truth. Approximately 80 listed companies fall within this high-growth frontier. In contrast, over 24,000 are operating privately, pushing boundaries with models, frameworks, and applications that will power industries across sectors. These are complex builds. Many won’t show signs of scale for years. Inside the private walls, companies are designing new architecture, not just responding to demand. They are building futures that are still hard to price.

By the time a space company goes public, its riskiest and most rewarding years are behind it. By the time a consumer brand lists, its early growth curve is over. The private space is where raw ideas are pressure-tested, teams are forged, and outsized returns are still possible. For long-term investors, this matters. In sectors where growth is being built from the ground up, the public markets provide only a narrow window, and often too late in the company’s lifecycle.

If you’re bullish on any of these sectors, healthcare, fintech, space, or AI, you can’t rely on public markets alone to give you meaningful exposure. The heart of foundational innovation is beating in the private markets. This is where raw ideas evolve into new categories, and where agility, experimentation, and risk are still rewarded. These companies are closer to the edge of the problem. They’re still figuring out what the opportunity actually is, which makes them the best way to play the long arc of sectoral transformation.

For those thinking seriously about long-term positioning and looking to position capital in alignment with where real innovation is being built, private markets offer a far wider playing field. This isn’t just a matter of portfolio construction. It’s a matter of access and the point of entry. Public markets are where value gets priced. Private markets are where value gets created. If you aren’t looking at private companies in the sectors you’re most excited about, you are missing the phase where the deepest value creation is taking place.

Should you abandon public markets? Probably not. But if you’re serious about where real innovation is being built, your capital needs to show up earlier. The sectors you believe in most are coming to life long before they make it to the ticker tape.

For context on India’s expanding capital backbone, check out India’s Private Market Surge: A Strong Start to 2025, From Bet to Buyout, and Deep Tech Takes Center Stage in India, each revealing where the real long-term depth lies.

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