The number of recognised startups in the country increased from 471 in 2016 to 72,993 in 2022, recording a massive over 15,400% growth, the commerce ministry data as of June 30, 2022, shows. The recognised startups are spread across 56 diversified sectors, with around 4,500 startups recognised in emerging tech such as the internet of things (IoT), robotics, artificial intelligence, analytics, etc.

The government launched the Startup India initiative on January 16, 2016, to build a stronger ecosystem for nurturing India’s startup culture to drive economic growth, support entrepreneurship, and enable large-scale job opportunities.

The initiatives taken by the Centre are schemes like the Startup India Action Plan, Fund of Funds for Startups (FFS) Scheme, Startup India Seed Fund, Startup India: The Way Ahead, Startup India Showcase, Startup India Hub, income tax exemption for three years, self-certification under labour and environmental laws, among others.

Not only the government schemes but the Indian startup community is also benefitting immensely from the venture capital (VC) funding as well. "Indian startups seem to be gaining investors’ confidence. India witnessed a whopping 39% year-on-year (YoY) growth in venture capital (VC) funding deal volume to 976 during the first half (H1) of 2022. The corresponding disclosed funding value too clocked a 4.5% rise to $15.6 billion," according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

“India witnessed a positive trend in both VC funding value and volume in H1 2022 compared to H1 2021 while several other key markets such as the U.S. and China experienced a decline," says Aurojyoti Bose, Lead Analyst at GlobalData.

The country also saw the announcement of several big-ticket deals during H1 2022. Some of the prominent deals announced during the period include $805 million funding raised by Verse Innovation, $800 million series F funding raised by Think and Learn (Byju's), $700 million funding raised by Bundl Technologies (Swiggy), $450 million funding raised by Polygon, and $300 million funding raised by Xpressbees.

Startup India initiative

India sees over 15,400% growth in startups in 6 yrs