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Minister of State for Commerce and Industries Som Parkash on Friday (July 22) informed the Parliament that more than 4,500 startups working in the domain of emerging technologies have so far been recognised by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).

In a written reply, the minister said that these recognised startups belong to domains such as the Internet of Things (IoT), robotics, artificial intelligence (AI) , analytics, among others.

The minister also said that agritech startups incubated under certain government schemes are undertaking projects that combine traditional agriculture with allied sectors such as AI, IoT, blockchain, information communication technology, precision farming, digital agriculture, among others.

Parkash also added that 26 centres of excellence (CoEs) have been established across the country to create capabilities in the arena of emerging technologies. 

“These domain specific CoEs are being established pan India with the participation of the central government, software technology parks of India, state government(s), industry partnership and venture capital firms. These CoEs act as important enablers to promote innovation in emerging technologies,” said Parkash. 

He also noted that the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) is working to promote startups and innovation in the biotechnology space. 

The minister said that the number of recognised startups in the country has increased from 471 in 2016 to 72,993 as of June 30, 2022. These startups are spread across 56 diversified sectors. 

Besides, 52 regulatory reforms have been undertaken by the central government in the last six years to ‘enhance ease of doing business and ease of raising capital’ and to reduce compliance burden on startups.

Earlier this week, the government told the Parliament that the DPIIT-recognised startups employ 7.68 Lakh people across the country. Maharashtra and Karnataka lead the country in the number of jobs generated by recognised startups at 1.46 lakh and 1.03 Lakh, respectively.

India also has more than 700 active incubators and 60 Atal Incubation Centres across the country to nurture potential startups.

The DPIIT-recognised startups enjoy a host of incentives including tax exemption for three years, rebate on filing patents and preference among non-recognised startups for the government’s fund of funds scheme.