Start-ups grew 300 times in last 9 years: Union Minister Jitendra Singh

New Delhi, Apr 10 (KNN) Union Minister of State for Science & Technology on Monday said that Start-ups in India grew 300 times in the last 9 years.

Addressing an event at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi, Singh said that there were just around 350 Start-ups before 2014, but after Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave the clarion call from the ramparts of the Red Fort in his Independence Day address and rolled out special Start-up scheme in 2016, there has been a quantum jump in Start-ups to more than 90,000 with more than 100 Unicorns.

“Due to the opening up of the Space sector to the private sector, more than 100 start-ups have emerged within the last three years. Similarly, Biotech Start-ups went up from around 50 to nearly 6,000,” he said.

At the event, President of India, Droupadi Murmu presented the National Innovation Awards to “Grassroot Innovators”. The awards were instituted by the Union Ministry of Science & Technology.

During his address, singh pointed out that the nature of the awards given today and the profile of the awardees proves that a large number of “Grassroot Innovators” are available in India who may not have a very high formal education but who are capable of creating success stories and also generating attractive means of livelihoods for themselves.

He appreciated the efforts of the Department of Science and Technology and National Innovation Foundation (NIF) for organising the “Festival of Innovation & Entrepreneurship” (FINE).

The awards were presented in different categories, namely national level, State level and student category. Two of the recipients today had already been awarded Padma Shri for their innovations.  (KNN Bureau)