Nearly 25K Registered Startups In India Creating Over 3 Lakh Jobs, Govt Claims

Union skill development minister Mahendra Nath Pandey told Lok Sabha that the department for promotion of industry and internal trade (DPIIT) has recognised over 26,804 startups, with each startup employing 12 people on average.

The minister told the parliament that nearly cumulatively 24,848 DPIIT-recognised startups have created over 3.06 Lakh jobs, under the Startup India scheme. “As on December 31, 2019, 26,804 startups across 555 districts have been recognised as startups by DPIIT,” the minister added.

Further, under the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) of Skill India Mission, the government has provided training to 40.27 Lakh candidates till January 17, 2020, under the short-term training courses and 33.20 Lakh candidates have been certified under the Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) component of the scheme.

Launched in 2016, Startup India is a flagship initiative of the government of India, intended to catalyse entrepreneurial culture and build a strong and inclusive ecosystem for innovation and technology in India. Under Startup India, the government has also set up an INR 10K Cr Funds Of Funds (FOF) to invest in startups. Out of this corpus, which is currently managed by the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), the government has committed INR 3123.20 Cr to 47 SEBI-registered alternative investment funds (AIFs).

However, foreign investments under FOF have slowed down in FY20, according to the government data. Foreign investors poured INR 1,209 Cr in AIFs in FY18 which increased by 43% to INR 1,733 Cr in FY19. However, in 11 months of FY20 (till February), the investment jumped by only 19.8% to INR 2,077 Cr, union commerce minister Piyush Goyal said in Rajya Sabha on March 13.

Till February 18, 2020, 320 startups have received funding from 47 AIFs through FOF. Under the Startup India programme, the government has so far committed INR 3,123.20 Cr to the 47 AIFs who have raised a corpus fund of INR 25,728 Cr and invested INR 3,378.47 Cr in these 320 startups, as per Goyal.

According to NSSO’s periodic labour force survey (PLFS) of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, India’s unemployment rate hit a 45-year-high of 6.1% in 2017-18. Moreover, the unemployment rate was higher in urban areas (7.8%) as compared to 5.3% in rural areas of the country, NSSO noted.

‘The App Economy in India’ report by US-based policy think-tank Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) recently said that the app economy in India has created 1.67 Mn jobs in the country. The report says that the app sector could be a potential source of jobs for India going forward, especially given current government goals for economic and employment growth across a wide range of industries and geographies.

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