5 years of PM Modi’s Startup India: 5.5 lakh jobs created, 50,000 startups recognised by DPIIT

Of 50,000 startups recognized by DPIIT, 19,896 were recognized in the past 12 months

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s flagship scheme for Indian startups – Startup India — on Thursday crossed the 50,000-mark for the number of startups recognized by its implementing body Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT). According to the data available by the Startup India programme, 50,018 startups were recognized by DPIIT at the time of filing this report. The scheme launched by PM Modi on January 16, 2016, intended to offer sops around registration, income tax exemption, easier public procurement norms, rebate in patent filing, easy winding up of company, and more. Financial Express Online had reported in March last year on 29,681 DPIIT recognized startups as of March 11, 2020. This had more than tripled from 8,939 startups registered till March 2018.

In terms of job creation, 5,49,842 jobs were reported so far by 48,093 recognised startups with an average number of 11 employees per startup, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said in a statement on Thursday. In FY21 alone, around 1.7 lakh jobs were created by recognized startups. Among sectors with the highest number of registered startups under the Startup India programme, food processing, product development, application development, IT consulting, and business support services led the pack.

“The fact that so many startups have emerged is a sign that government and entrepreneurial community have realized that growth and livelihoods will come through this route. While there is a limit to setting up factories and even if we set up a factory of the size of a football field in the modern context it may at most create direct employment to 200-300 people across shifts unlike an app or a portal that may generate similar direct and multiple indirect livelihoods in few months,” Rameesh Kailasam, CEO at IndiaTech.org — industry association representing India’s consumer internet start-ups, unicorns and investors – told Financial Express Online.

Of 50,000 startups recognized by DPIIT, 19,896 were recognized in the past 12 months, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said in a statement on Thursday. The recognized startups were based across 623 districts while each State and union territory had at least one startup. India’s 30 states and UTs have already announced their respective startup policies while Maharashtra, Karnataka, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, and Gujarat had the highest concentration of startups. The government said that it took only 180 days to add the last 10,000 startups vis-à-vis 808 days for the first 10,000 at the beginning of the scheme. During FY17, 743 startups were recognized which increased to more than 16,000 startups recognized in FY21.

“India requires startups which use forward-looking technology, are innovative with ability to scale and are capable of creating wealth and livelihoods. That’s been the focus of most current successful startups and unicorns in the internet tech space. While the number of startups is a good indicator and demonstrates entrepreneurial hunger, however, the real change would come from this focus and approach,” added Kailasam.

Meanwhile, the number of startups funded SEBI registered alternative investment funds (AIF) through Rs 10,000 crore Fund of Funds for Startups (FFS) under Startup India had jumped from 247 as of June 24, 2019, to 320 as of February 18, 2020, as reported by Financial Express Online earlier. FFS launched by PM Modi in 2016 had committed Rs 3,123.20 crore to 47 AIFs till February. PM Modi had in January also announced a seed fund worth Rs 1,000 crore for startups In his address to the BIMSTEC countries at the Startup India’s international summit Prarambh, PM Modi said that “going forward, the government will also help startups to raise debt capital by providing the guarantee.”