India’s prime minister (PM) Narendra Modi applauded the start-up ecosystem running in the country. Addressing the start-up drive, the PM said in his speech in the parliament that India is home to 90,000 start-ups and 108 unicorns. Additionally, he said that India ranks third in the world in terms of having the most number of start-ups. 

Last year, in a virtual gathering with Indian entrepreneurs, PM Modi called start-ups the backbone of the country and the force behind the nation’s economic growth in the run-up to the 100th year of Independence. 

Prior to Modi, India’s president Droupadi Murmu also praised India’s start-up drive in her speech during the pre-budget session. Appreciating centre’s endeavor to nurture the start-up system in the country, president Murmu said that India has 90,000 start-up enterprises and the government has prioritised innovation and entrepreneurship in the past few years.  

The Indian government gave an administrative push in India’s start-up drive in 2016. It launched the Startup India initiative with a focus on multiple areas like ‘handholding and simplification,’ ‘funding support and incentives and ‘industry-academia partnership.’ In the same year, the government also launched the Fund-of-Fund Scheme (FFS) with an investment plan of Rs 10,000 crore. The scheme aimed to provide funds to emerging start-ups in the country and till now it has allocated Rs 7,527.95 crore to multiple companies. 

The scheme was followed by Startup India Seed Fund Scheme (SISFS) with an investment plan of Rs 945 crore in 2021. The next year, the government started Digital India Startup Hub and the Supporting Entrepreneurs in Transformation and Upskilling (SETU) programme. PM Modi also announced to celebrate the 16th of January as the ‘National Start-Up Day,’ in the same year. 

In an attempt to ease business for the companies, India’s finance minister (FM) Nirmala Sitharaman proposed income tax benefits for the Indian start-ups incorporated till March 24, in her budget speech. Founders across sectors welcomed this move.