Hon’ble Prime Minister, Sri Narendra Modi while addressing the ‘Prarambh: Start-up India International Summit’, on January 16, 2021 announced seed fund worth Rs. 1,000-crore to support Start-ups in India and remarked that Start-up helps in raising initial funding and generating job opportunities, thus improving lives of people.[1]
Creating a Start-up Eco-System in India
Shri Modi also stated that this initiative by the Government of India will help new Start-ups to grow and also encourage innovations. Further, the two-day Prarambh Summit marked the 5th anniversary of the ‘Startup India Initiative’ which was launched by PM Modi in 2016. Moving ahead, the central government will provide guarantees in order to help the start-ups raise equity capital. Adding to it, Shri Modi claimed that “A start-up ecosystem will be created in India which will be based on the fundamental principle of the youth, by the youth & for the youth.”
Modi exuded that India is a home to 3rd largest start-up ecosystem in the world. In India, there are more than 41,000 start-ups out of which IT sector alone has more than 5,700 start-ups. There are 3,600 start-ups present in health sector and nearly 1,700 start-ups operating in agriculture sector. Modi claimed that the ‘demographic characteristics of businesses’ are being changed by the start-ups.
Through the Government e-Marketplace portal, the local start-ups have been put at par with the big companies wherein they are authorized to participate in government tenders with them. It was also stated by Shri Modi in his speech that nearly Rs, 2,300 crore has been collected from registering 8,000 start-ups on the portal and operating businesses by these start-ups.
Nearly 10 start-ups operating in sectors ranging from beauty payments, recently in 2020, turned unicorn as against 9 in 2019. He further praised the start-ups for coming up with innovative solutions during pandemic. This step introduced by PM Modi will certainly support the Start-up ecosystem in India and sustain Central Government’s efforts towards normalizing economic activities post COVID-19 pandemic.