Economic Survey 2022: Delhi Overtakes Bengaluru As Startup Capital Of India

Ahead of the Union Budget 2022-23, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has tabled the Economic Survey Of India 2022, which paints a picture of the economic development over the past fiscal year as well as the economic growth outlook for the fiscal year 2022-23. Among other economic indicators, the Economic Survey 2022 also highlighted the growth of the startup ecosystem in India.

According to the survey, the number of new recognised startups has increased to over 14,000 in 2021-22, from 733 in 2016-17. Delhi has replaced Bengaluru as the startup capital of India as over 5,000 recognised startups were added in Delhi while 4,514 startups were added in Bangalore between April 2019 to December 2021.

The Economic Survey 2021-22 states India will see a GDP growth of 8%-8.5% in 2022-23. Further, it stated 555 districts in India had at least one new startup, up from 121 districts in 2016-17. With a total of 11,308 startups, Maharashtra has the highest number of recognised startups.

The total number of startups recognised under the Startup India initiative has now grown to 61,400, as of January 10, 2022. These startups have created over 6 Lakh jobs, India’s President Ram Nath Kovind told both houses of the parliament, ahead of the launch of the Economic Survey.

The past year saw a number of records for the startup ecosystem, starting with the total funding raised by Indian startups, which resulted in 42 new unicorns. Besides this, 11 tech companies and startups went for public listings, which was another new benchmark for the tech industry. These 11 startups raised over $7.36 Bn through the public markets via their IPOs.

Calling 2021-22 an exceptional year for the primary markets, the survey pointed out the boom in fundraising through IPOs. Overall, INR 89,066 Cr was raised through 75 public issues between April and November 2021, which is much higher than in any year in the last decade, the government said.

Further, the survey stated that the number of patents filed in India has shot up from 39,400 in 2010-11 to 58,502 in 2020-21 and the patents granted in India has gone up from 7,509 to 28,391 during the same time period. The share of Indian residents in patent applications has increased from 20% in 2010-11 to around 40% in 2020-21. Consequently, India’s ranking in Global Innovation Index has climbed 35 ranks over the past five years, from 81st in 2015-16 to 46th in 2021.

Among startup sectors, the survey has delved deeper into spacetech development. The number of startups in the space sector has increased from 11 in 2019 to 47 in 2021. More details on India’s spacetech ambitions will undoubtedly be announced during the main Union Budget presentation by Sitharaman.

The survey also stated that as of January 17, 2022, 66,34,006 micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) have registered on the official Udyam MSME portal, with 62.7 Lakh micro, 3.19 Lakh small and 34,355 medium enterprises.

While 2021 was undoubtedly a big year for startups, this year has already started off with an improvement over last year. Overall, Indian startups have raised over $4.6 Bn in funding in January 2022, which is 5x higher than January last year. As many as 196 deals were struck throughout the month. This translated into an 87% increase in the number of deals compared to January 2021.

Next From Union Budget 2022 – Economic Survey 2022: India’s Internet Data Usage Shoots Up To 14.1 GB Per Month

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