1.14 lakh startups generate more than 12 lakh jobs in India: Finance ministry

NEW DELHI: More than 1.14 lakh startups in India have created over 12 lakh jobs so far, the finance ministry said in its latest review of the Indian economy.

In the report titled, ‘The Indian Economy: A Review January 2024’, the Department of Economic Affairs said that the 1.14 lakh startups recognised by the government under the 'Startup India initiative’ created more than 12 lakh jobs (as of October 2023).

The state-owned e-commerce platform Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) clocked more than 63 lakh transactions till November 2023, the document read.

Despite facing global challenges in 2023 like valuation issues, few IPOs, regulatory changes and macroeconomic and geopolitical trends, India remains the third largest tech start-up ecosystem globally, with over 950 tech startups founded last year.

The cumulative funding for more than 31,000 tech start ups has exceeded $70 billion (from 2019 to 2023), according to a recent report by Nasscom in collaboration with Zinnov.

“In 2023, despite facing global economic and regulatory challenges, Indian tech startups have prioritised the imperative of enhancing their business fundamentals, driving profitability and growth,” said Debjani Ghosh, President, Nasscom.

“The proliferation of tech startups in tier 2 and 3 cities marks the ecosystem's resilience,” she added.

Navigating 2024, tech startup founders expect to continue the revenue growth path with measured steps focusing on optimising expenditure and maximising profitability for B2B tech startups.

Investments in deeptech will continue an upward trend in 2024. With generative AI (GenAI) acceleration, 70 per cent of start-up founders are embedding artificial intelligence (AI) in their solutions.

As funding becomes scarce for the Indian startup ecosystem in general, the explosion of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has given a new lease of life to entrepreneurs and founders in the country, as the Centre extends support to the sector.

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