India sees registered startups touch 1.4 lakh mark

India's startup ecosystem has witnessed a significant expansion, with the number of registered startups surpassing 1.4 lakh, as per to Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Jitin Prasada. 

In a written response presented in the Rajya Sabha on Friday, Prasada revealed that Maharashtra tops the list with 25,044 registered startups, as per the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT). Prasada highlighted the government's ongoing efforts to promote and support startups across the country. 

The minister noted that the “Startup India” initiative, launched on January 16, 2016, aims to build a buzzing ecosystem to tap innovative temper and encourage  investments in the startup ecosystem. 

The 'Startup India Action Plan' includes 19 action points focusing on "Simplification and handholding," "Funding support and incentives," and "Industry-academia partnership and incubation." This plan has laid the foundation for government support, schemes, and incentives designed to create a vibrant startup ecosystem in India.

Besides, the 'Startup India: The Way Ahead' scheme puts forth actionable plans to promote ease of doing business for startups, enhance the role of technology in implementing reforms, build stakeholder capacities, and enable a digital Aatmanirbhar Bharat. 

Among other initiatives includes government’s Fund of Funds for Startups (FFS) with a corpus of Rs 10,000 crore to meet the funding needs of startups. The DPIIT acts as the monitoring agency, while the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) serves as the operating agency for FFS. The Rs 10,000 crore corpus is intended to be provided over the 14th and 15th Finance Commission cycles, contingent on the scheme's progress and fund availability.

The minister further noted that the government has made available capital availability for startups at various stages which include early, seed, and growth funding.  These play a pivotal role in raising domestic capital, reducing reliance on foreign capital, and encouraging homegrown venture capital funds.
 

(With agency inputs)