India ranks 3rd globally in Start-Up ecosystem and also in terms of number of unicorns. According to the latest data, there are currently 105 unicorns, with 44 born in 2021 and 19 in 2022. This was stated today by the Union Minister of State for Science and Technology (Independent Charge); Minister of State (Independent Representative) for Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh delivering the keynote address at the ‘DST StartUp Utsav’ at the Dr Ambedkar International Center here.
The minister said the decade 2021-30 is expected to bring transformational changes for India’s Science, Technology and Innovation (STI). Dr Jitendra Singh said that under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, India has increased its gross expenditure on research and development (GERD) more than three times in the last few years. He said that according to the latest data, India has more than 5 lakh R&D workers, a figure which has shown a 40-50% increase in the last 8 years. Dr. Jitendra Singh said that over the past 8 years, women’s participation in extramural R&D has also doubled and India now ranks 3rd in terms of PhDs awarded in Science and Engineering (S&E) after the US and China. As changing global forces and technologies become the epicenter of international engagement and rule-making, India under Modi is meeting global standards.
Referring to Prime Minister Modi’s launch of StartUp India from the Red Fort in 2015, Dr Jitendra Singh said, India in its 75th year of independence is now home to as many as 75,000 StartUps. The minister said that Modi’s special focus on science, technology and innovation has sparked the imagination of the country’s youth to innovate and solve problems with new ideas. He also pointed out that Indian startups today are not limited to metros or big cities, adding that 49 percent of startups are from tier 2 and tier 3 cities. He said we have startups emerging in areas like IT, agriculture, aerospace, education, energy, healthcare and space.
Dr. Jitendra Singh has also published 4 promising start-up publications under various components of NIDHI, including the flagship Technology Business Incubator (TBI) program and a coffee table book of 51 CAWACH funded start-ups. Dr Jitendra Singh said India ranks third among the most attractive investment destinations for technology deals in the world because of its strong focus on science and technology. He said that India is among the best countries in the world in the field of scientific research, is one of the top five countries in the field of space exploration and is also actively involved in emerging technologies such as quantum technology, artificial intelligence, etc.
Dr Jitendra Singh said the Center for Augmenting WAR with COVID-19 Health Crisis (CAWACH) program created in record time by DST just as Covid hit was the first program by any Indian Government Department to support start-up companies working on Products and Solutions Covid. He said that overall, the impact and outcome of the DST program on innovation and entrepreneurship was significant: supporting 160 incubators, nurturing 12,000 startups, including 1,627 women-led startups, generating 1,31,648 jobs.
Dr Jitendra Singh informed that India has made a massive leap in its Global Innovation Index (GII) ranking from 81st in 2015 to 46th in 2021 among 130 economies of the world. India ranks 2nd among 34 lower-middle-income economies — and 1st among 10 Central and South Asian economies in terms of GII. The consistent improvement in the GII ranking is due to the vast knowledge capital, the vibrant startup ecosystem and the excellent work done by public and private research organizations, the minister added. Dr Jitendra Singh congratulated the organizers, DST team, innovation champions from across the country – startups, incubators, ISBA Incubator Association and wished them great success in their continued efforts to accelerate the growth of our great country and make DST Startup Utsav a grand success.
Secretary, DST, Dr. S. Chandrasekhar said that India has made some unprecedented progress in STI fields in the last 7-8 years and there has been a significant increase in the country’s overall performance in terms of publications (globally it is now 3rd 6th in 2013 on based on the National Science Foundation database), patents (9th overall in terms of resident patent filings), and quality of research publications (now 9th globally, up from 13th in 2013) over the past 7 years.
He pointed out that DST’s NIDHI program has rapidly mobilized the much-needed support for start-ups and accelerated the active support of business incubators and other business support providers. 75 influential incubated startups supported under NIDHI from across the country from various sectors were showcased in 50 physical and 25 digital modes at DST Startup Expo (5 Startups from NM-ICPS Technology Innovation Hubs were also part of 50 startup booths).
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