Home / Numbers / Best guess

How many D2C brands are there in India?

Last checked 23 October 2026 • Rechecked yearly • 2 dated sources

About 9,000
D2C brands (Redseer) · June 2023
Range
2,000 to 10,000, depending on who counts and when
Confidence
Low: estimates disagree; treat as a range
Last checked

The short answer

The most recent published count is Redseer's: 9,000 D2C brands operating in India, given in June 2023 with a projected revenue of USD 25 billion. Inc42 estimated 2,000 brands in 2022 doing business worth $12 Bn and expected 10,000 within five years. No newer count has been published.

There is no register of D2C brands. Inc42 counted 2,000 in 2022 and projected 10,000 within five years; Redseer said 9,000 were operating in June 2023. Neither has published a 2026 count, so the true figure today is likely at or above 9,000 but is not measured.

The figures side by side

MeasureFigureSource
D2C brands, 20222,000Inc42, April 2023
D2C brands, June 20239,000Redseer, June 2023
Projected brands within five years10,000Inc42, April 2023

How we got this number

  1. Collect every dated count with a named source: Inc42 (2,000 in 2022) and Redseer (9,000 in June 2023).
  2. Check whether they can both be right: Inc42 itself projected 10,000 within five years, so 9,000 a year later suggests a wider definition (any brand selling online direct), not a contradiction.
  3. Take the latest named count, 9,000, as the best guess and show the 2,000–10,000 spread as the range.
  4. Flag the age: the figure is from 2023; we recheck when Redseer or Inc42 publish again.

What this number does not tell you

  • Counts differ mostly on definition: a brand with a website and an Instagram shop counts for some trackers and not others.
  • The figures do not say how many brands are still trading.
  • Revenue figures in these sources are projections, not reported sales.

Sources

  1. Redseer keynote at India D2C Summit 2023, reported by WebIndia123, 9 June 2023With 9,000 brands currently operating and a projected revenue of USD 25 billion.
  2. Inc42, Indian D2C brands set sail for global expansion, 9 April 2023In 2022, there were an estimated 2,000 D2C brands in India doing business worth $12 Bn. The number is expected to go up to 10,000 with a business size of $60 Bn in the next five years alone.

Questions people ask

How many D2C brands are in India in 2026?

No 2026 count has been published. The latest is Redseer's 9,000 brands, from June 2023.

Why do D2C brand counts differ so much?

Each tracker defines a D2C brand differently. Counts range from 2,000 (Inc42, 2022) to 9,000 (Redseer, 2023).

Read next

This is a best guess, not an official statistic. We recheck it yearly. If you have a newer or better source, send it to us.

Numbers like this, sourced and dated, in the daily brief. Nine stories every morning at 09:15 IST.

Get the brief free →