The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) had recognised 1.4 lakh entities as start-ups as of June 30 this year, it informed Parliament on Friday.
These startups will be eligible for various incentives, including income tax benefits under the Startup Indian Action Plan announced in 2016.
The government launched the Startup India initiative on January 16, 2016 to build a strong ecosystem to nurture innovation and startups and encourage investments in the startup ecosystem in the country.
“DPIIT has recognised 1,40,803 entities as startups as on June 30, 2024,” Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Jitin Prasadha said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.
Of these, over 25,000 have been certified in Maharashtra, followed by Karnataka (15,019), Delhi (14,734), Uttar Pradesh (13,299) and Gujarat (11,436).
In response to another question, the minister also said that under the Startup India Seed Fund scheme, Rs 952 crore has been approved by incubators to startups as of June 30, as against Rs 1,861.9 crore for 2023.
The total number of startups selected by incubators under the scheme stands at 592 as against 1,025 in 2023.
Similarly, the startup fund of funds has invested Rs 8,058.6 crore in startups through its backed AIFs (alternative investment funds) as of June 30, with Rs 3,366.48 crore planned to be invested in 2023.
The total number of start-ups backed by the AIF stood at 96 as of June 30, compared with 148 last year.
Under the Credit Guarantee Scheme for Startups, loans worth Rs 1,546 crore have been guaranteed by member institutions as of June 30 this year, which will reach Rs 2,714.9 crore in 2023, the minister added.
The number of guaranteed loans to startups was 75 as of June 30, down from 107 last year.
Replying to another question, the minister said over 570,000 merchants and service providers have been registered with the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC).
ONDC, a Section 8 enterprise, is an initiative of DPIIT.
It aims to promote open networks in all aspects of the exchange of goods and services over digital or electronic networks. ONDC is not an app or a platform. It is a digital public infrastructure built on a network model.
“ONDC has seen rapid expansion in a matter of a year, from over 1,000 transactions in January 2023 to over 9.9 million transactions in June 2024,” he said, adding that the network has 71 seller applications, 22 buyer applications and 16 logistics service providers.
