New Delhi: Believe it or not. About 136 new startups are being launched in the country every day, with more than half of them in the tier-II and tier-III cities. In the year 2025, more than 50,000 new startups have been started in the country.
With this, the number of registered startups in the country has now reached 2.09 lakh. On the occasion of the last Startup Day (January, 2025), the number of startups in the country were 1.59 lakh. This is the fastest annual growth in the last one decade.
According to a report by the Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), 52.6 percent of startups are not from metro cities, but from Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities. 50 percent of startups have at least one woman director, which is associated with organizations manufacturing everything from baby products to heavy industry machines.
In the last one decade, startups created about 21 lakh jobs across the country. That is, on average, one startup directly employed 10 people. Last year, only 7 startups became unicorns (companies valued at one billion dollars or more). PM Modi also wished people on Startup Day through a post on X.
6,385 startups closed in 10 years
The implementation of the online gaming law took away the status of 4 unicorns (Dream11, MPL, Gamescraft, Games24into7). According to Sanjeev, Joint Secretary, DPIIT, 6,385 startups have closed in the country in the last 10 years. This is only 3 percent of the total startups. This rate is the lowest in the world.
Startup India is moving towards Entrepreneurial India
Life Skills: 15% contribution to GDP possible – India is moving from ‘Startup India’ to ‘Entrepreneurial India’. According to a report by The Indus Entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship should be taught as a necessary life skill. It must be included in 75% of secondary schools and 80% of higher education institutions by 2035. If this happens, startups can contribute 15% to GDP and create 5 crore new jobs.
Ecosystem: Shorter time to bring IPO- According to a report by Oreos Venture Partners, 20 startups that were to be listed on the stock market in 2025 did so in 13.3 years. In 2024, it took an average of 13.4 years. However, in 2023, Mamaarth and Yatra made it to the stock market in just 12.5 years. It took 16 years to reach this destination in 2022 and 2021. That is, Indian startups are getting ready for IPO in less time.
Funding: India is only ahead of US-UK – According to a Traction report, startups raised Rs 94,500 crore in 2025. India became the third largest funded startup ecosystem after the US-UK.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will participate in the event on completion of a decade of the Startup India initiative on Friday. Startup India was launched on 16 January 2016.
