50% of Indian startups belong to non-metros; Govt has set up AIC to incubate startups in various sectors
Over 50 per cent of the recognized Indian startups belong to non-metropolitan cities, Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Som Prakash informed the Parliament on Wednesday.
“As on 30th June 2022, a total of 72,993 startups are recognized by DPIIT, of which 34,473 (48%) recognized startups belong to metropolitan cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Pune, and Ahmedabad. Therefore, over 50% of the recognized startups belong to non-metropolitan cities,” he said to the Lok Sabha in reply to a question about whether 50 per cent of recognized startups in the country are from Tier-II and III cities. He further said startups and the innovation ecosystem are the engines of growth for any country.
Recognizing this aspect, the Government launched the Startup India initiative in January 2016 with an aim to build a stronger ecosystem for nurturing India’s startup culture that would further drive our economic growth, support entrepreneurship, and enable large-scale employment opportunities.
“Sustained Government efforts in this direction have resulted in increasing the number of recognized Startups from 471 in 2016 to 72,993 in 2022 (as on 30th June 2022). DPIIT has recognized startups which are spread across 56 diversified sectors,” he further said.
More than 3,300 recognized startups are working in climate action sectors providing solutions through renewable energy and green technology.
Additionally, more than 4,500 Startups have been recognized in sectors relating to emerging technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), robotics, artificial intelligence, and analytics.
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.
Creating unicorns in US: Indians lead immigrants
Indians lead immigrants in the US who founded more than half of America’s startups valued at $1 billion or higher (unicorns), and four out of 10 immigrants who have founded multiple billion-dollar enterprises are from India, a new report has revealed.
A report by the National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP) said that Indians founded 66 companies with a valuation of over $1 billion.
Four of them — Mohit Aron (Nutanix and Cohesity), Ashutosh Garg (Bloomreach and Eightfold.ai), Ajeet Singh (Nutanix and ThoughtSpot) and Jyoti Bansal (AppDynamics and Harness) — are among those who founded multiple billion-dollar enterprises in the US.
“Immigrant entrepreneurs in US billion-dollar startups come from diverse backgrounds, hailing from 57 countries. India, with 66 companies, is the leading country of origin for the immigrant founders of US billion-dollar companies,” the report said late on Tuesday.
Immigrants from Israel founded the second-most billion-dollar companies with 54, followed by the UK (27), Canada (22) and China (21).
“Immigrants have started more than half (319 of 582, or 55 per cent) of America’s startup companies valued at $1 billion or more, according to the report.
Moreover, nearly two-thirds (64 per cent) of US billion-dollar companies (unicorns) were founded or cofounded by immigrants or the children of immigrants.
“The research shows the importance of immigrants in cutting-edge companies and the US economy at a time when US immigration policies have pushed talent to other countries for talent,” said Stuart Anderson, the author of the study and NFAP’s executive director.