Economic Survey 2024: India's start-up boom dominated by Tier 2 & Tier 3 cities with 45% of start-ups

Highlighting the vibrant start-up ecosystem of India, the Economic Survey 2024 stated that over 45 percent of the start-ups emerged out of Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities and the number of DPIIT-recognised start-ups increased to more than 1.25 lakh by March 2024 from 300 in 2016. 

The report further found that Indian start-ups have filed more than 12,000 patents from 2016 to March 2024. Over 13,000 of these start-ups are working in diverse thematic areas like artificial intelligence, the internet of things, robotics, and nanotechnology. 

Per the survey, 135 Alternative Investment Funds have invested more than Rs 18,000 crore in start-ups by the end of FY24 while the Bharat Startup Knowledge Access Registry is bringing together diverse stakeholders in the startup ecosystem. 

Citing NASSCOM study, the survey stated that GCCs have significantly contributed to the growth of the Indian start-up ecosystem. They have established more than 15 incubators, over 40 accelerators, and multiple partner programmes to drive collaboration with Indian start-ups. 42 Healthcare and pharma GCCs have witnessed an increased partnership with start-ups and academia to access newer technology. The GCCs have explored various forms of collaboration, such as innovation labs, hackathons and start-up incubators. 

On the Startup India initiative’s success, the survey stated that the DPIIT recognised startups have generated over 12.42 lakh direct jobs creating significant economic impact. In addition, the government’s focus on adoption of technology in agriculture is supported by over 1,000 agritech startups in agriculture and allied sectors. As of 9 February, 2024, 554 agritech start-ups, including 387 women-led start-ups, are working in the agriculture and allied sector. 

Some of the key highlights of the survey are: 

• There are over 13,000 DPIIT-recognised start-ups in artificial intelligence, the Internet of things, robotics, and nanotechnology by the end of FY24 

• Patent Rules, 2024 was notified, simplifying patent acquisition and management. The number of granted patents increased 17-fold from 5,978 in 2014-15 to 1,03,057 in 2023-24 

• More than 47% of the DPIIT recognised start-ups have at least one woman director 

• Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF) bill 2023 was passed, which will act as an apex body to provide high level strategic direction for scientific research. It will forge collaborations among the industry, academia, governments, and research bodies and facilitate interface 

• Under the Fund of Funds for start-ups, more than Rs 10,500 crore has been committed to more than 135 Alternative Investment Funds, which invested more than Rs 18,000 Crore in start-ups by the end of FY24 

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• India ranks first in the lower middle-income countries and among central and southern Asian economies