Winning Bizness Desk
Mumbai.India’s startup ecosystem has seen an extraordinary expansion over the past decade, growing from fewer than 500 startups to more than two lakh today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on National Startup Day. Addressing young entrepreneurs and startup founders in New Delhi, the Prime Minister said the scale and speed of this growth reflect a deep change in mindset, policy support and risk-taking culture. He reminded that January 16 was declared National Startup Day in 2022 to recognise the role of startups in shaping India’s economic future.
Push to move beyond digital, services focus
PM Modi said India has done well in digital and service-led startups but must now lead in manufacturing as well. He stressed that the next phase of growth should focus on building world-class products within the country. According to him, the future belongs to those who create unique technologies and original products rather than relying only on services. He urged startups to aim for quality manufacturing that can compete globally while being rooted in India.
Startup India seen as broad national vision
Calling Startup India more than a government scheme, the Prime Minister described it as a rainbow vision connecting opportunities across sectors. He said the past decade proved India’s strength in digital innovation, but the coming years demand deeper work in core technologies and product development. He noted that startups built on original ideas would lead the country’s growth story in the years ahead.
Risk-taking, unicorn rise and changing mindset
PM Modi spoke about the importance of taking risks, saying earlier governments avoided tough decisions due to fear of losing power. He said he believed necessary decisions must be taken even if they carry political cost. He highlighted the sharp rise in unicorns, noting that India had only four unicorns in 2014, while today the number of active unicorns has crossed 125. India has now become the world’s third-largest startup ecosystem.
Some key data points highlighted include:
- Startups grew from under 500 to over 2 lakh in 10 years
- Unicorns increased from 4 in 2014 to about 125 now
- India ranks third globally in startup ecosystem size
Daily startups, jobs and wider reach
The Prime Minister shared that in 2025 alone, more than 50,000 new startups were launched, averaging 136 new startups every day. The total number of registered startups has reached 2.09 lakh, up from 1.59 lakh last year, marking the fastest annual growth so far. DPIIT data shows that 52.6 percent of startups come from tier-2 and tier-3 cities, while half of them have at least one woman director. Over the decade, startups have created around 21 lakh jobs nationwide.
Closures, funding strength and future outlook
Officials said 6,385 startups shut down over the past 10 years, just about 3 percent of the total, one of the lowest failure rates globally. Changes in online gaming laws also led to four gaming unicorns losing their status. Reports suggest startups could contribute up to 15 percent of GDP and create five crore jobs if entrepreneurship is taught as a life skill. In 2025, startups raised ₹94,500 crore in funding, making India the third-largest funded ecosystem after the US and UK. PM Modi will attend a programme marking 10 years of the Startup India initiative, launched on January 16, 2016.
