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Indian government’s efforts have resulted in an increase in the number of recognised startups in India from 726 in FY 2016-17 to 65,861 as on March 14 in FY 2020-21

The ministry allocated INR 2,791.29 Cr to SIDBI that reserved INR 6,795 Cr to 82 AIFs while 8,785 Cr have been infused by supported AIFs in 574 startups

With the onset of 2022, 12 unicorns including Fractal, LEAD, Darwinbox, DealShare, ElasticRun, LivSpace, Xpressbees, Uniphore, Hasura, CredAvenue, Amagi and Oxyzo have emerged

The Indian Parliament has recently informed that the government’s efforts have resulted in an increase in the number of recognised startups in India from 726 in FY 2016-17 to 65,861 as on March 14 in FY 2020-21.   

PTI in its report said, in a bid to support the Indian startups, the government launched ‘Startup Initiative’ on January 16, 2016 to drive economic growth, support entrepreneurship and enable job creation.

In Rajya Sabha, Piyush Goyal, Commerce and Industry Minister, said, “The recognised startups are spread across over 640 districts and have reported a creation of more than seven lakh jobs with an average of 11 jobs being created by them. These startups are spread across 56 diversified sectors such as IT services, finance technology, technology hardware, enterprise software, artificial intelligence, and nanotechnology.”

The ministry allocated INR 2,791.29 Cr to SIDBI that reserved INR 6,795 Cr to 82 Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs) while 8,785 Cr have been infused by supported AIFs in 574 startups. 

“The Startup India Seed Fund Scheme (SISFS) aims to provide financial assistance to startups for proof of concept, prototype development, product trials, market entry and commercialization…INR 945 Cr has been allocated under the scheme for a period of four years starting from 2021-22,” Som Prakash, Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, said.

In 2020, there were 38,815 active startups and 51 unicorns in India, as per Inc42 DataLabs report. Then, the fintech sector was deemed one of the top sectors in the country.  

In 2021, an aggregate of 42 unicorns were produced in India. Then, India was placed as the country top three unicorn producers across the globe. This huge figure was achieved due to the massive fundraise, embracing new technology, and increased investors’ confidence. 

With the onset of 2022, 12 unicorns including Fractal, LEAD, Darwinbox, DealShare, ElasticRun, LivSpace, Xpressbees, Uniphore, Hasura, CredAvenue, Amagi and Oxyzo have emerged in the first three months. With this, India has a total of 98 startups that have joined the unicorn club to date.  

This year, new-age tech startups have remained an edge over other startups owing to shifting consumers’ reliance on technology, pandemic-led norms, and increasing competition. 

It is believed that in the coming days India will easily cross the 100 mark producing the highest number of startups in a short span of time.