Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said that the momentum of the startup ecosystem is accelerating in the country with nearly 44,000 startups registered in 2025 alone.
“This is the biggest jump in any single year since the beginning of Startup India. These figures testify to how our startup ecosystem is driving innovation and growth,” he said at an event marking a decade of Startup India.
Ten years ago, there were fewer than 500 startups in the country. Today, this number has risen to more than 200,000. In 2014, India had only four unicorns; today, India has nearly 125 active unicorns, he added.
From 500 to 200,000
Modi said Startup India has given birth to a new culture in the country, as earlier, new businesses and ventures were mostly started by children of large industrial families but the Startup India programme has changed this mindset. Now, youth from tier-2 and tier-3 cities, even from villages, are opening their own startups.
“And these very young people are striving to solve the most pressing grassroots problems. This spirit of doing something for society and the nation is of immense importance to me,” the Prime Minister added.
The government has focused on ensuring access to finance for innovators. Through the Fund of Funds for Startups (FFS), investments of more than Rs 25,000 crore have been made. Schemes such as the Startup India Seed Fund, IN-SPACe Seed Fund, and NIDHI Seed Support Programme are providing seed funding to startups. To improve credit access, the government also launched the Credit Guarantee Scheme, so that lack of collateral does not become an obstacle in the path of creativity, he said.
Deep Tech and Strategic Procurement
“To promote research, we have launched the Research, Development and Innovation Scheme with an outlay of Rs 1 lakh crore. To support long-term investment in sunrise sectors, we have also created a Deep Tech Fund of Funds.”
Through iDEX, the government has opened new avenues of procurement for startups in strategic sectors. The space sector, which was earlier completely closed to private participation, has now been opened. Today, nearly 200 startups are working in the space sector, PM said.
In public procurement, market access through GeM (the Government e-Marketplace) has been provided. “Today, nearly 35,000 startups and small businesses are onboarded on GeM. They have received close to 500,000 orders worth around Rs 50,000 crore. In a way, startups, through their success, are opening new avenues of growth for every sector,” Modi added.