From just 350 startups in 2014, the number of startups in India has grown to more than 90,000 startups: MoS Singh
India has witnessed the emergence of 100 startups since the liberalisation of the spacetech sector three years ago, the minister said
Singh’s comments have come at a time when the startup funding declined 75% YoY to $3 Bn in the first three months of 2023
Minister of State (MoS) for Science and Technology Jitendra Singh on Monday (April 10) said that the number of startups in the country has grown 300X in the past nine years.
Singh made the comments while addressing the National Innovation Awards event at Rashtrapati Bhawan in New Delhi. Instituted by the Ministry of Science, the awards were presented by President Droupadi Murmu to grassroot innovators.
Noting that India was home to just 350 startups before 2014, Singh said that the number has, since then, seen a ‘quantum jump’ to more than 90,000 startups, including more than 100 unicorns.
Touting the 2020 reforms pertaining to the space sector, the MoS added that the homegrown spacetech industry has seen the emergence of 100 startups in the past three years. The minister also noted that biotech startups have also gone up from nearly 50 to around 6,000 currently.
The minister’s comments come amid a tumultuous time for the Indian startup ecosystem. After the bull run of 2021, funding fell with a thud in 2022. The purported funding winter also appears to have percolated well into 2023 as funding numbers plummeted by 75% year-on-year (YoY) to $3 Bn in the first quarter (Q1) of 2023 against $12 Bn raised in Q1 2022.
This decline has largely been the result of mourning losses, global macroeconomic pressures and the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, which has triggered a tech rout across the globe and has made investors wary.
According to the Startup India website, there were 96,753 DPIIT-registered startups in the country, along with 196 government-recognised accelerators and 1,093 incubators.
Last month, the Centre informed the Parliament that it committed investments worth INR 1,711 Cr for startups in 2022, under the Fund of Funds for Startups (FFS) scheme. In addition, the central authorities have also earmarked an additional INR 267.50 Cr for incubators under the Startup India Seed Fund Scheme (SISFS) in the same period.
To boost the local startup ecosystem, the Union government has also undertaken a slew of other schemes such as the Credit Guarantee Scheme for Startups (CGSS), three-month income tax exemption, and self-certification, among others.
