Registering a startup in India with the government involves a few structured steps. The process is fairly streamlined and can mostly be done through government portals. For startups registering under the Startup India programme by the Commerce Ministry, the business should be operational for not more than 10 years and incorporated as a private limited company or a registered partnership firm or a limited liability partnership. Further, the annual turnover should not be beyond Rs 100 crore for any of the financial years since its incorporation. 

Registering under the programme offers startups a number of benefits around funding, tax exemption, patent filing, public procurement, winding up and more. Below is the step-by-step process for online registration of a startup under the Startup India programme:

  • Sign up and login to the government’s National Single Window System — nsws.gov.in 
  • Select the entity type — Incorporated Company/Limited Liability Partnership/Sole Proprietor/Others 
  • Enter the company PAN details and validate them 
  • Enter the registered address of the business 
  • Verify your PAN using Digital Signature Certificate (DSC) 
  • Validate the details pre-filled on the screen and additional details sought  
  • Add the Digital Signature Certificate and click on ‘Register DSC’  
  • Next, click on ‘Apply on’ to ‘Register as a Startup’ under ‘My Dashboard’ on the left side of the page  
  • Fill the registration form with relevant details including logo, information about your startup, website, your industry, sector, address, details of company representative such as director and his/her details 
  • Enter total employee count, whether applied for trademark, nature of startup, whether startup is innovative, whether startup is creating scalable business, whether it has received any funding  
  • Write a note on how the startup is innovative, what problem it is solving, the uniqueness of your solution, how it generates revenue  
  • Under ‘Self Certification’, you may enter Certificate of Incorporation and Authorisation Letter  
  • Accept all the terms and conditions and acknowledgements 
  • Save and review the draft before submitting it 
  • Review the form filled and confirm the information shared before submitting the application 
  • The submitted application status for approval will appear on the dashboard 
  • Post approval, which may take around a week, download the recognition certificate with the DPIIT (Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade) number 

Currently, over 1.65 lakh startups are registered with the Startup India programme, according to government data. The registered units have generated over 17 lakh jobs while 75,935 recognised startups have at least one woman director. 

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The programme enables funding through three key schemes: Seed Fund scheme, Fund of Funds scheme, and Credit Guarantee scheme. Under the Seed Fund scheme, 2,622 startups have benefited from Rs 467.75 crore funding as of December 2024 while under the Fund of Funds scheme, Rs 6,886 crore has been committed by DPIIT to SIDBI and Rs 11,687 crore was committed by SIDBI to alternative investment funds which has led to Rs 21,276 crore funding in 1,173 startups. 

Lastly, under the Credit Guarantee scheme, 260 loans worth Rs 604.16 crore to 209 startups have been guaranteed as of January 3, 2025. Among these, Rs 27.04 crore has been allocated to 17 women-led startups.