Six years since launch of startup action plan, India has become the third largest ecosystem
With the startup ecosystem turning out to be vibrant than ever before, India has scored a landmark achievement with 75000 startups being recognized. The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has recognized more than 75,000 startups, which is considered a milestone. The Indian startup ecosystem continues to be fuelled by innovation, enthusiasm, and entrepreneurial spirit, said DPIIT sources.
According to Piyush Goyal, Union Minister for Commerce and Industry, these numbers narrate the story of the power of a vision aimed at innovation and enterprise-driven growth. On January 16, 2016, the National Startup Day, a program was initiated by the government to lay out an action plan to build a strong ecosystem for nurturing innovation and startups in the country. Now after a period of 6 years, the action plan has become successful enough that India is the third largest ecosystem in the world as of today.
An enabling environment for startups
While the initial 10,000 startups were recognized in 808 days, the latest ten thousand were achieved in only 156 days. With more than 80 startups getting recognized per day, which is the highest rate in the world, the future of the startup culture may be seen as promising in India.
The Startup India programme, primarily rolled out to establish an enabling environment for the startups, has become a platform that has proven to be a launchpad for them. From providing funding to tax incentives, from support on intellectual property rights to eased public procurement, from enabling regulatory reforms to access to international fests and events, Startup India program has become synonymous with sustainable economic growth.
Out of the total recognized startups, around 12 percent cater to IT services, while 9 percent fall in the Healthcare and Life Sciences sector. Seven percent is in education, 5 percent in professional and commercial services and 5 percent cater to agriculture. Besides, a total of 7.46 lakh jobs have been created by the Indian startup ecosystem so far, registering a 110 percent yearly increase over the last six years.
Space sector startup proposals
Moreover, in what could be called a significant development in the startup avenue, six start-ups were selected and supported by ISRO with a grant-in-aid of maximum of Rs 50 lakh each in areas like geo spatial information, propulsion and robotics, AR and VR. These startups have been selected and supported by ISRO with a grant-in-aid of maximum of Rs 50 lakh each in areas like geo-spatial information, propulsion and robotics.
The Niti Aayog’s newly-launched ANIC-ARISE-1.0 programme which has been conceived to seek, select, support and nurture technology-based innovations that solve sectoral challenges of national importance, witnessed proposals from three space sector arenas. They include segments such as geo spatial information, propulsion and robotics, augmented reality and virtual reality. Selected start-ups from these proposals are to receive a grant-in-aid of Rs 50 lakh each.
