NEW DELHI: The government plans to involve big private firms in hand-holding youth to encourage next-generation technopreneurs in areas such as deep tech and artificial intelligence (AI), a top government official said on Wednesday.
“When ‘Startup India’ initiative was launched by the Prime Minister in 2016, India had some 400 startups. Today, India has over 2 lakh DPIIT-recognised startups,” the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) secretary Amardeep Singh Bhatia said ahead of the National Startup Day on Friday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the main event.
Almost a year after coming into the power, PM Modi in his Independence Day speech on August 15, 2015 had spoken about promoting entrepreneurship at the grassroot through ‘Startup India’ campaign and launched the ‘Startup India’ initiative on January 16, 2016 with an aim to transform India into a country of job creators instead of job seekers.
According to a DPIIT statement, startups have generated over 2.1 million jobs.
Bhatia said the next focus of the initiative is to nudge corporates for their active engagement with startups to nurture budding entrepreneurs in providing innovative solutions to their businesses and thus develop a cost-effective, mutually-beneficial supply chain, he said.
Using AI and deep tech, technopreneurs would build customised solutions and innovative products for big companies, and integrate them into supply chains. This would not only help companies to reduce their manufacturing costs, but also create a high-tech ecosystem in the country. He said several memoranda of understanding (MoUs) have been signed by DPIIT with companies for this collaboration.
“We have been pushing corporates to deepen their engagements with startups… Companies can outsource problems to startups,” he said while talking about the National Startup Day, to be observed on January 16.
Explaining the policy push to create a large startup ecosystem, DPIIT joint secretary Sanjiv said the success lied in the government’s role as an enabler by simplifying rules, opening doors to funding, providing platforms like mentorship support, international recognition and most importantly, by sending a clear message — India believes in its entrepreneurs.
The National Startup Day 2026 is particularly significant because it marks the 10 years of the Startup India initiative, alongside the 5th Edition of state’s Startup Ranking Framework (SRF) and the National Startup Awards 5.0 (NSA), he said.
“As we step into the next decade of Startup India, DPIIT remains committed to fostering an environment that supports innovation, inclusion, and long-term growth,” he said.
According to DPIIT, on an average, every Indian startup provides 11 jobs. Over 52.6% of the DPIIT-recognised startups are based in tier-2 and tier-3 cities, it said, adding that the department recognizes nearly 80 startups every day.