Startups on application side
The number of start-ups in the country is increasing significantly, with 10 percent being added every year, an official said.
Nasscom Centre of Excellence for internet of things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI) CEO Sanjeev Malhotra said most start-ups are on the application side. At the same time, a lot of work has also been done in software-aided services.
“The number of start-ups is growing significantly in the country with 10 percent being added every year. There has been significant growth in the number of companies and funding organisations which are attributing to this cause,” he said.
But there is a need to build start-ups in core research areas, Mr Malhotra said. The centre of excellence is the country’s most influential technology and innovation ecosystem, comprising start-ups, innovators, enterprises, and the government.
India has the third-largest ecosystem for start-ups in the world, he said.
Funding pattern healthier
The Economic Survey 2021-22 had also mentioned that the number of such firms had grown remarkably over the last six years.
“The number of new recognised start-ups has increased to over 14,000 in 2021-22 from only 733 in 2016-17. As a result, India has become the third-largest start-up ecosystem in the world after the US and China,” it said.
Malhotra said that more unicorns are in the making in the country, adding that the “funding pattern is getting healthier”.
A unicorn is a privately held start-up company valued at over USD1 billion in business terms. Further, a record 44 Indian start-ups achieved unicorn status in 2021, taking the overall tally of such firms in the country to 83, and most of these are in the services sector, the survey said.
He added that the National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom) has been providing the necessary ecosystem for nurturing start-ups.
