One of the major thrusts of the Narendra Modi government since it came to power in 2014 was to boost entrepreneurship capabilities among Indians, which it believed would go a long way in generating jobs and making the country financially ‘aatmanirbhar’. To this end, the Centre on January 16, 2016, launched the ‘Startup India’ initiative to develop a vibrant eco-system that nurtures innovation.
The initiative has been a roaring success, with 72,993 start-ups being recognised in six years, which have created over 7.5 lakh direct jobs. The number of recognised start-ups has been growing rapidly with each passing year – from a mere 417 in 2016 to 20,160 in 2021. Another 12,341 start-ups have been recognised this year till June 30, and the total number is expected to surpass that of 2020 by this year-end.
India's booming start-up ecosystem
Among states, Maharashtra has the highest number of start-ups (13,519), followed by Karnataka (8,881) and Delhi (8,636). Metros such as Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru and Delhi-NCR remain favourites among budding entrepreneurs for the investment-friendly infrastructure they provide. However, Tier-II and III cities are also gradually gaining currency, and nearly half of India’s total start-ups are in these places.
The country is also home to 105 unicorns with a total valuation of $338.50 bn – 63 of them were born since last year. In fact, one out of every 10 unicorns in the world are from India. Unicorns (firms with over $1 bn valuation) that offered IPO to expand their growth include Zomato, Nykaa, PolicyBazaar and Paytm.
Bengaluru is India’s unicorn capital with 39 firms, followed by Delhi-NCR (32) and Mumbai (16). Bengaluru also ranks among the top 10 unicorn hubs in the world. While traditional sectors such as e-commerce, fintech, supply and logistics, and Internet software dominate the unicorn list, unconventional sectors such as gaming, hospitality, cryptocurrency and data analytics are also making their place.
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