Number of recognised startups rise to 65,861: Govt

New Delhi: Sustained efforts by the government have resulted in increasing the number of recognised startups from 726 in 2016-17 to 65,861 as on March 14 this fiscal, the Parliament was informed on Friday.

The government had launched 'Startup India' initiative on January 16, 2016, with an aim to build a stronger ecosystem for nurturing the startup culture that would further drive economic growth, support entrepreneurship, and enable large-scale employment opportunities.

"Sustained government efforts in this direction have resulted in increasing the number of recognised startups from 726 in FY 2016-17 to 65,861 in FY 2021-22 (as on 14th March 2022)," Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.

He said that the recognised startups are spread across over 640 districts and have reported a creation of more than seven lakh jobs with an average of 11 jobs being created by them.