The number of startups in the country is expected to grow almost 10-fold in the next 10 years to 1 million aided by government support on multiple fronts, commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said on Tuesday.

The number of startups registered with the government had gone up from 450 in 2014 to 157,000 till December-end.
“We are now the third-largest startup ecosystem in the world, growing from 450 registered startups to 157,000 today in nine years. In the next 10 years, we hope to take it up to a million,” Goyal said at the India-Israel Business Forum meet here.

The startups recognised by the government have reportedly created over 1,702,000 direct jobs as on December 31, 2024 across more than 55 industries, minister of state for commerce and industry Jitin Prasada said in a reply to a question in the Lok Sabha. Of the total 157,000 startups, 5,063 have either been dissolved or struck off from the list of startups after ceasing operations.

Apart from the increased number of startups, their geographical spread has also expanded. In 2016, startups existed in only 120 districts but now they have expanded to over 750 districts. The government wants every district to have startups by the end of this year.

To support startups, the government has launched an umbrella scheme Startup India in 2016 that provides capital support and tax breaks apart from other support in the form of incubation centres.

The government under the Startup India initiative, through its flagship schemes Fund of Funds for Startups (FFS), Startup India Seed Fund Scheme and Credit Guarantee Scheme for Startups, has provided financial assistance to eligible recognised startups across sectors and through various stages of their business cycle.

The Budget has announced another FFS of Rs 10,000 crore and has also indicated another dedicated fund for deeptech startups.

Through the first FFS launched in 2016 investment of more than Rs 21,700 crore has already been catalysed by Alternative Investment Fund (AIFs) in more than 1,180 startups.

These AIFs are mobilising a corpus of around Rs 91,000 crore by raising funds from other investors. Under the FFS, AIFs receiving support are required to invest at least twice the amount committed by the government.