As India marks a decade of Startup India on January 16, 2026, it is timely to reflect on how profoundly the initiative has reshaped the country’s economic narrative. Launched in 2016 with a 19-point Action Plan, Startup India was a strategic declaration that entrepreneurship would be central to India’s growth model. What began as an effort to catalyse a nascent ecosystem has, over the years, evolved into a nationwide movement, with National Startup Day serving as a formal recognition of this transformation.
Over the past decade, a dense network of founders, investors, incubators, and enablers has emerged across Tier II and Tier III cities, reflecting both the country’s demographic depth and economic ambition. With risk-taking no longer confined to a narrow elite, today startups embody the zeitgeist of a nation confident in its capacity to innovate, create jobs and compete globally.
A decade of startup-led transformation
The numbers tell a compelling story of scale. From roughly 500 startups in 2016, India today hosts two lakh registered startups, positioning the country as the world’s third-largest startup ecosystem. With more than 124 unicorns, around 6% of the global total, and a capital stack comprising 5,000 angel investors, 1,400 VC firms, and 1,100 PE players, this expansion is supported by institutional depth.
Crucially, startups have moved from the periphery to the mainstream of economic value creation. In 2025 alone, India ranked as the third-highest funded country globally, raising $10.5 billion. They are estimated to have contributed 10–15 per cent to India’s GDP growth, and projections of a $1 trillion contribution by 2030 underscore the scale of their ambition.
The growth in the number of new tech startups has been impressive, too. From 800 in 2015 to over 70,000 tech startups and further projected to reach 1,80,000 by 2030. Today’s startups are increasingly harnessing advanced technologies such as AI, blockchain, robotics, and IoT to address problems that genuinely matter. In fact, the next $10 billion outcomes in AI will come from companies solving specific workflow problems within industries.
Even as fintech, enterprise tech, and ecommerce are amongst the top-funded sectors, the real inflexion is visible in edtech, climate tech, health tech, and agritech. India now accounts for one in every nine agritech startups globally, underscoring its growing leadership in solving foundational challenges. Crucially, this entrepreneurial energy aligns with the national ambition of building a self-reliant, globally competitive economy.
India’s startup economy is becoming a national growth engine with distributed horsepower. While Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai, and Delhi-NCR remain powerful anchors, the real signal of maturity lies in the 51% of startups that now originate from Tier II and Tier III cities.
Capital, once tightly clustered, is flowing into cities such as Jaipur, Haridwar, Vadodara, and Kota, each registering a near 15% uptick in startup activity. Even more consequential is the rise of rural-first and social impact ventures addressing structural gaps in healthcare, education, and agriculture. This momentum brings India closer to a once-aspirational idea—har jile mein ek startup.
By formalising work and enabling skill-based employment, startups are strengthening labour participation, deepening domestic demand, and building a more resilient economy. Startups have generated over 17.28 lakh direct jobs across India, and what comes next is equally instructive. As highlighted in Rukam Capital’s ‘Aspirations of New India,’ growth is being led by health & wellness, food & beverages, pet care, fashion accessories, and new-age consumer brands. These sectors are inherently employment-intensive, activating jobs across manufacturing, logistics, retail, and digital commerce.
More inclusive entrepreneurial economy
India’s startup journey over the past decade also demonstrates strong structural integration. Women entrepreneurs have emerged as powerful contributors to this transformation. Over 73,000 government-recognised startups had at least one woman director, accounting for nearly half of all supported startups. Women today are founding and leading enterprises across sectors once considered traditionally male-dominated, including construction and security services, to sports media and technology. They are not confined to metropolitan centres or legacy business families but represent a geographically and socio-economically diverse cohort.
Targeted capital has played a catalytic role here. Funding for women-led startups in India rose sharply from $1.8 billion in 2018 to $5.9 billion in 2021, reflecting growing investor confidence. More than Rs 3,100 crore has been deployed in 149 women-led startups through Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs) alone, further complemented by the Start-up India Seed Fund Scheme (SISFS), Credit Guarantee Scheme, etc. These programmes offer women entrepreneurs financial support, training, and mentorship, empowering them to start and scale their businesses.
Policy as a growth multiplier
The government’s role as an ecosystem enabler in developing India’s startup story has been crucial. A suite of early interventions focused on access to capital, mentorship, and regulatory simplification created the conditions for risk-taking at scale. Schemes like Startup India Seed Fund Scheme (SISFS), Credit Guarantee Scheme for Startups (CGSS), Fund of Funds for Startups (FoF), Bharat Startup Knowledge Access Registry (BHASKAR), Atal Innovation Mission, National Mentorship portal (MAARG), and MeitY Startup Hub, to name a few.
Meanwhile, flagship innovation labs within incubators, such as THub, and KSUM, state-Level Startup Rankings, National Startup Awards, Startup Maharathi challenge, SuperStree, Innovation Week, and the Startup Mahakumbh played subtle but powerful roles.
Recent fiscal measures further strengthened this foundation, even as the removal of legacy distortions such as angel tax and rationalisation of tax rates for foreign investors further aligned India with global capital expectations.
The expansion of the Fund of Funds framework, complemented by the newly announced Research, Development, and Innovation Fund, which introduces long-term, low-cost capital into science-led ventures, is making India’s innovation ecosystem more robust.
Building for the next decade
As regulatory reforms kept pace with this ambition, India’s World Bank Ease of Doing Business ranking improved from 130 in 2016 to 63rd in less than five years. Today, the Startup India hub serves as a single-window engagement model and startups are even allowed to self-certify compliance under select labour and environment laws. The government has also implemented several other initiatives to encourage IP protection for startups.
Crucially, this momentum is no longer metro-centric. Today, 31 of the 36 states and Union Territories have a dedicated Startup Policy. With the majority of these crafted in the last decade, entrepreneurship has become a truly national endeavour. Capacity-building workshops, state-level rankings, and region-specific initiatives—particularly in non-metro and frontier regions—are expanding the geography of opportunity.
India’s entrepreneurial decade ahead
The next decade will mark a decisive shift. As rising incomes fuel consumption and entrepreneurship penetrates district-level economies, startups will certainly become a foundational economic pathway across India. Deeptech, climate solutions, advanced manufacturing, and AI-led infrastructure will anchor high-quality job creation and innovation depth. Backed by digital ubiquity and a robust policy framework, Indian startups will deliver capital-efficient, global replicable models, thus positioning India as a trusted global innovation hub.
The author is Founder and Managing Partner, Rukam Capital.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of THE WEEK.