India to enter Global Innovation Index top 10 in next three years: Home Minister
Union Home Minister Amit Shah has expressed confidence that India would secure a position among the top 10 on the Global Innovation Index in next three years. He said that the country’s ranking on the Index has gone up from 91 to 38 in the last decade. He has emphasised the contribution of Startup India scheme in this growth. The Startup India scheme is the Indian government's flagship initiative launched in 2016 to promote innovation and create a robust startup ecosystem, transforming India from a job-seeking to a job-creating nation.
Highlighting the impact of Startup India scheme, he said that the country now has 120 unicorns whose combined market value is over $350 million against four unicorns in 2014. He added that on an average, 17,000 startups have been set up annually. Further, 52% of total startups are in tier-II and tier-III cities and 48% are initiated by women. He noted that the country’s startup ecosystem has employed 17.90 lakh people.
He also noted that a fund of funds of Rs 10,000 crore has been created to help startups. Moreover, to promote startups, the maximum loan limit has been increased from Rs 10 crore to Rs 20 crore, and various tax concessions have been given. Also, he has urged industry leaders to invest in startups, saying that one of them may turn into a unicorn one day and increase your wealth. He highlighted that Gujarat has been leading the country in the startup sector for the last four years.
