Entrepreneurship is a major driver for innovation, productivity and job growth in a country and India’s start-ups are going great guns catapulting India as the third largest start up ecosystem in the world.
India’s startup growth has been both horizontal and vertical. India is becoming the startup capital of the world with over 1.25 lakh start-ups and more than 110 unicorns. With time, the startup movement in India is venturing beyond the metros. There are recognised startups in every State and Union Territory (UT) spread across more than 80% of the districts of the country.
The median cheque size of the deals rose 142% to $2.9 Mn in Q3 2024 from $1.2 Mn in the year-ago period, reflecting growing investor confidence in the Indian startup ecosystem.
The recognised startups have reportedly created more than 12.22 lakh direct jobs as on 31st October 2023. The USP of the Indian start-up ecosystem is it runs on “innovation, development or improvement of products or processes or services, or if it is a scalable business model with a high potential of employment generation or wealth creation”.
The startup movement in India is being spearheaded by supportive infrastructure and Government policies. The Government has taken several steps to promote startups in the country, which include the Startup India Action Plan, Startup India Seed Fund Scheme, Fund of Funds for Startups (FFS), Credit Guarantee Scheme for Startups, abolishment of angel tax etc.
Startups in India are also moving high on innovation. India’s ranking in the Global Innovation Index has moved from 81st in the year 2015 to 40th in the year 2023. India also ranks 3rd in terms of number of Publications and number of PhDs awarded in Science and Engineering.
Ease of doing business is a primary component for attracting green or brown field investments. India ranked 63rd in the World Bank’s Doing Business Report (DBR), 2020, registering a jump of 79 ranks within a span of 5 years. Business Reforms Action Plan (BRAP) 2024 continues to streamline processes, reduce compliance burdens, and implement digital solutions to make India a preferred global investment hub. This will augur well for the fledgling startups in India, who are emerging as co-creators in major industry verticals.
Startups are actively involved in building the India of our dreams. ICC as a national trade body has been working toward supporting the startup ecosystem in India.
The Chamber provides market and funding connect and important networking opportunities to the startups.
In order to develop the ecosystem and promote startup activities in India, ICC has signed Memorandum of Understanding with leading incubators in the country.
Additionally, in order to provide budding entrepreneurs with necessary handholding, ICC has brought an opportunity for Indian startups to be a part of the Premium ICC Startup Membership.
ICC Startup members can enjoy exclusive ICC business networking & branding opportunities & investor and market connect opportunities through events, workshops, seminars and conferences held round the year, across important national and international destinations.
Key ICC flagship conferences in the start-up arena include ICC Start-up Pad, ASEAN India Hackathon and Start-up Festival, ICC Start Up Investors Meet, ICC IPR Awareness Programme, India Start-up Week a Digital Event and Start-up Business Forum at BIMSTEC BUSINESS CONCLAVE 2023@ Kolkata.
ICC also has a dedicated quarterly newsletter for start-ups– “Startupreneur”. This newsletter is available on the ICC website, ICC social networking sites and also reaches out to the premium ICC membership base, creating a valuable branding opportunity for your organization.