The Government has also created 26 Centres of Excellence (CoEs) in diverse areas of national interest

The number of startups in India increased from 471 in 2016 to 72,993 in 2022 as a result of proactive interventions, the government said in Parliament on Friday.

In a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Som Parkash said the government launched the Startup India initiative on January 16, 2016. The goal was to strengthen the ecosystem to encourage India's entrepreneurship culture in order to even further push economic growth and enable substantial job opportunities.

DPIIT has recognized startups which are spread across 56 diversified sectors. More than 4,500 Startups have been recognized in sectors relating to emerging technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT), robotics, artificial intelligence, analytics, the reply informed.

The reply by the MoS Commerce and Industry also said:

* Department of Science and Technology (DST) had launched an umbrella programme called National Initiative for Developing and Harnessing Innovations (NIDHI) in year 2016 for nurturing ideas and innovations (knowledge-based and technology-driven) into successful startups.

* To promote innovations in biotechnology sector, the Department of Biotechnology, through Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), supports and nurtures startups in the Biotechnology sector.

* The Innovations for Defence Excellence(iDEX) was launched by the Department of Defense Production, Ministry of Defense, with the aim to achieve self-reliance and foster innovation and technology development in Defense and Aerospace by engaging Industries, R&D institutes and academia and provide them grants to carry out R&D.

* Under the Atal Innovation Mission, the Government has set up Atal Incubation Centres (AIC) to incubate startups in various sectors.

* The Government has also operationalized 26 Centres of Excellence (CoEs) in diverse areas of national interest for driving self- sufficiency and creating capabilities to capture new and emerging technology areas.

* Technology Incubation and Development of Entrepreneurs (TIDE) Scheme, launched by Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, has a multi-pronged approach in diverse areas of electronics, information and communications technology and management.