Role of Startups

Startups boost the economy by acting as a catalyst for both global and local economic growth. They are crucial in driving economic recovery and responsible growth, as well as societal reform. Startups are hubs of new invention; they produce jobs, which implies more career prospects; more employment leads to a stronger economy, and a healthy economy has a direct impact on the growth of cities where startups are located. As the startup ecosystem expands, it brings together innovative leaders from different industries. This will boost the ecosystem's innovation process, diversify the local economy, and provide another source of competitiveness.

There were 452 startups recognised by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) in 2016 and 23773 new startups as of November 30, 2022. As of February 13, 2023, India had over 90,000 certified startups [DPIIT]. On January 16, 2016, the Government of India launched the Startup India initiative in order to build a stronger environment for nurturing India's startup culture, which would further drive our economic growth and encourage entrepreneurship for large-scale employment prospects. After the United States and China, India boasts the world's third largest startup ecosystem.

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As of 13 February 2023, Maharashtra had the most DPIIT-recognized startups in India, followed by Delhi. Approximately 48% of our companies are from Tier II and III locations. When it comes to cities, Delhi has the most startups, followed by Mumbai. DPIIT-recognized companies have created over 9 lakh direct jobs, representing a 64% increase in 2022 over the average amount of new jobs created in the previous three years[Economic Survey 2022-23].

Startups Intellectual Property Protection

The Government of India launched Startups Intellectual Property Protection (SIPP) in 2016. This makes it easy for startups to file patent, design and trademark applications which facilitates the start-ups to file applications for patents, designs and trademarks through registered facilitators in appropriate Intellectual Property offices by paying only the statutory fees. The Government bears the entire fees of the facilitators for any number of patents, trademarks or designs, and startups bear the cost of the statutory fees payable. Startups are provided with an 80% rebate in filing of patents and 50% rebate in filling of trademark compared to other companies. Startups in India have filed over 400 technology patents during 2015-2021, with healthcare and medical devices remaining their focal point [NASSCOM].

Image3source: startupindia.gov.in

According to the Israel-based Startup-Blink’s ‘Global startup Ecosystem Index (GSEI) 2022’, Bengaluru has the strongest startup ecosystem in India. It is also ranked first in South Asia and 8th among the world’s top 10 cities. Globally Delhi is ranked 13, Mumbai is ranked 17, Pune is ranked 90 and Hyderabad is ranked 97.

Startups Turned to Unicorns

The Indian startup ecosystem has expanded quite rapidly mainly through private investments including seed, angel, venture capital, and private equity funds, with technical support from incubators, accelerators, and the government. According to venture intelligence data, start-ups turned into unicorn are mostly in Fintech, SaaS and E-commerce sector. Most of these unicorns are located in Bengaluru. A unicorn company is any private company that is valued at $1-Billion or more and is Venture Capital funded. 44 unicorns were born in 2021 and 19 in 2022.

Image4 source: ventureintelligence