Indian non-metropolitan cities are leading the technology ecosystem in the country. Union minister of state for commerce and industry, Som Prakash, informed the Parliament on July 27, 2022, that over 50 percent of the recognized Indian startups belong to non-metropolitan cities.
While replying to a question raised in the Rajya Sabha, India’s upper house of parliament, Som Prakash said in a written reply, “As of June 30, 2022, a total of 72,993 startups are recognized by Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), of which 34,473 (48 percent) recognized startups belong to metropolitan cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Pune, and Ahmedabad.”
Therefore, over 50 percent of the recognized startups belong to non-metropolitan cities, said the minister in the Lok Sabha to question whether 50 percent of recognized startups in the country are from Tier-II and III cities.
Startups and the entire technology ecosystem are any country’s growth engines.
Recognizing this aspect, the Government launched the Startup India initiative on January 16, 2016, intending to build a more robust ecosystem for nurturing India’s startup culture that would further drive our economic growth, support entrepreneurship, and enable large-scale employment opportunities,
He added that startups and the innovation ecosystem are any country’s growth engines. “The number of recognized Startups went from 471 in 2016 to 72,993 in 2022 (as of June 30, 2022). DPIIT has recognized startups which are spread across 56 diversified sectors.”
The minister informed the Lok Sabha how the Government had introduced various schemes to support startups across sectors to scale up. He said that Under the Atal Innovation Mission, the Government has set up Atal Incubation Centres (AIC) to incubate startups in various sectors.
It has also launched Atal New India Challenge (ANIC) program to directly aid startups with technology-based innovations that solve sectoral challenges of national importance and societal relevance.
More than 3,300 recognized startups work in climate action sectors providing solutions through renewable energy and green technology. Additionally, more than 4,500 Startups have been identified in industries relating to emerging technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), robotics, artificial intelligence, and analytics.
The Government has also operationalized 26 Centres of Excellence (CoEs) in diverse areas of national interest for driving self-sufficiency and creating capabilities to capture new and emerging technology areas. Notably, India’s startup unicorns crossed the 100 mark earlier this year.
