India Has 2.47 Lakh Government-Recognised Startups, Up From 502 in 2016, and a Second Rs 10,000 Crore Fund of Funds to Back Them

India’s Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), the commerce ministry’s industry department, had recognised more than 2.47 lakh (247,000) startups as of 12 August 2026, up from 502 in 2016. The figure comes from a factsheet the Press Information Bureau (PIB, the government’s release service) published on 13 August 2026. The exact count for 30 June 2026, 2,40,092 entities, went to the Lok Sabha, the lower house of Parliament, in a written answer on 28 July.

The programme behind the number, Startup India, was launched by the Prime Minister on 16 January 2016 with an Action Plan of 19 items covering simpler rules, funding support and tie-ups between industry and universities, according to a Rajya Sabha reply PIB published on 29 July 2024. Ten years on it includes a Rs 10,000 crore Fund of Funds, a second fund of the same size notified in 2026, a seed fund, a loan guarantee and a three-year income tax exemption. Each figure below carries the date it belongs to.

What “recognised” means

DPIIT recognises an entity as a startup when it meets the conditions in a notification numbered G.S.R. 127(E), dated 19 February 2019. Recognition is the entry point to the government schemes described below. The count is cumulative, meaning it adds every entity ever recognised. The Commerce Ministry told the Lok Sabha on 17 March 2026 that the status of each company (active, dissolved or struck off) is kept by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs on a cumulative basis.

DPIIT’s own baseline is 502 recognised startups in 2016, the figure used in the 13 August 2026 factsheet and in the ministry’s 1 February 2025 release.

Recognitions have sped up

The ministry’s 17 April 2026 release says it recognised more than 55,200 startups in 2025-26 (the financial year from April 2025 to March 2026). That is the most in a single year since 2016 and 51.6 per cent more than the roughly 36,400 of 2024-25. The running total crossed 2.23 lakh on 31 March 2026.

Earlier PIB releases give the path: 1,40,803 on 30 June 2024, 1,57,706 on 31 December 2024, and 2,12,283 on 31 January 2026. The 15 January 2026 PIB backgrounder says about half of recognised startups come from Tier II and Tier III cities, the smaller cities outside the big metros. It names Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Delhi-NCR as the main hubs.

Maharashtra, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh have the most

The 17 April 2026 release ranks states by recognised startups at 31 March 2026. Maharashtra has more than 38,660, Karnataka more than 22,600, Uttar Pradesh more than 21,960, Delhi more than 21,120 and Gujarat more than 19,270. Tamil Nadu (14,830), Telangana (12,520), Haryana (11,620), Kerala (8,620) and Rajasthan (8,100) follow, all with a “plus” in the release. The ministry says startups are present in every state and Union Territory.

Karnataka’s count had grown to 24,026 by 30 June 2026, the Lok Sabha reply of 28 July says. Those startups report more than 2.58 lakh direct jobs, and more than 11,400 of them have at least one woman director or partner. Alternative Investment Funds backed by the Fund of Funds, described below, had put more than Rs 8,900 crore into over 460 Karnataka startups. For the state’s wider economy, see Karnataka at a glance and Maharashtra at a glance.

IT services, health and education lead on jobs

The sector table DPIIT publishes counts direct jobs by industry, not startups by industry. The latest one tuput could open is in a Rajya Sabha reply of 6 December 2024, covering 31 October 2024 and 56 industries, with 16,67,519 jobs in total. IT Services is first with 2,04,119 jobs. Healthcare and Life Sciences has 1,47,639, Professional and Commercial Services 94,060, Education 90,414, Construction 88,702, Food and Beverages 88,468, Human Resources 87,983 and Agriculture 83,307. Artificial intelligence startups account for 23,918.

A later release, of 1 February 2025, updates the top three at 31 December 2024: IT Services 2.10 lakh, Healthcare and Life Sciences 1.51 lakh, Professional and Commercial Services 96,474. On 16 January 2026 the Commerce Minister said Indian startups work in over 50 sectors, from deep technology and agri-tech to drones and rockets. Individual companies in two of those fields are covered in India’s NewSpace startups and in the Indian AI startups building their own models.

Unicorns: over 120 on the government’s count

A unicorn is a privately held startup valued above US$1 billion. The 15 January 2026 PIB backgrounder says India went from four such companies in 2014 to over 120, with a combined valuation above US$350 billion. The Prime Minister, speaking at the National Startup Day event the next day, put the number at nearly 125.

Both are January 2026 statements, and neither lists the companies. tuput found no newer figure in a government release or Parliament answer that it could open.

The Fund of Funds and the seed fund

The Fund of Funds for Startups was launched in June 2016 with a Rs 10,000 crore corpus. DPIIT monitors it and the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) runs it, according to PIB’s 2024 and 2025 releases. It does not buy into startups directly. It puts money into venture funds registered with the securities regulator, known as Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs), and those funds invest in startups.

By 31 March 2026, more than Rs 7,000 crore had been paid out to over 135 AIFs, and those funds had invested more than Rs 26,900 crore in over 1,420 startups, the 17 April release says. In the Budget speech of 1 February 2025 the Finance Minister said AIFs for startups had received commitments of more than Rs 91,000 crore, and announced a new Fund of Funds with a fresh Rs 10,000 crore contribution.

DPIIT issued the operating rules for that second fund on 25 April 2026. SIDBI is the first implementing agency and DPIIT plans to add another. Money goes to AIFs in four groups: deep technology, micro venture funds for early-stage startups, technology-led manufacturing, and funds open to any sector or stage. Each group has a minimum share of private capital. On 16 January 2026 the Commerce Minister said the government wants to place a large part of the second fund in deep technology and high-technology sectors.

The Startup India Seed Fund Scheme works through incubators. By 30 June 2026, 219 incubators had been chosen, the whole Rs 945 crore corpus was committed, and incubators had picked 4,245 startups with Rs 706.33 crore of approved funding, the Lok Sabha reply says.

Loan guarantees and the tax rules

The Credit Guarantee Scheme for Startups, run by the National Credit Guarantee Trustee Company, has operated since 1 April 2023 and backs loans to startups without collateral. The Budget of 1 February 2025 raised the guarantee cover per borrower from Rs 10 crore to Rs 20 crore and moderated the fee to 1 per cent for loans in 27 focus sectors. By the end of 2025-26, more than 410 loans worth over Rs 1,250 crore had been guaranteed.

Recognised startups incorporated on or after 1 April 2016 can apply for an income tax exemption on three consecutive years out of their first ten, once an Inter-Ministerial Board certifies them. The provision is Section 80-IAC of the Income Tax Act. The 2025 Budget extended it to startups incorporated before 1 April 2030.

On 23 July 2024 the Finance Minister proposed ending the “angel tax” for all classes of investors. The tax is charged under Section 56(2)(viib) of the Income Tax Act on money a company receives for shares above their fair market value, and a 2023 CBDT release uses the name for the same clause. The Finance Bill memorandum says the clause stops applying from assessment year 2025-26. Recognised startups had been exempt from it since 2019.

Jobs and women-led startups

The 17 April 2026 release counts more than 23.36 lakh direct jobs from recognised startups at 31 March 2026, of which more than 4.99 lakh were added in 2025-26, 36.1 per cent above the previous year’s 3.67 lakh. On method, the December 2024 reply labels DPIIT’s industry job table self-reported and says the jobs were reportedly created, and the 2026 releases state no method. On 16 January 2026 the Commerce Minister described 21 lakh jobs as an estimate.

Women-led startups are counted as those with at least one woman director or partner, which the 1 February 2025 release describes as self-reported data. On 31 January 2026 that was 1,02,054 of 2,12,283 recognised entities, and by 31 March 2026 more than 1.07 lakh, about 48 per cent. The same Lok Sabha answer gives the money that reached women-led startups by 31 January 2026: about Rs 2,995 crore invested by Fund of Funds AIFs since 2020, Rs 294 crore of the Rs 592 crore approved under the seed fund, and Rs 39 crore of the Rs 925 crore guaranteed under the credit scheme.

Closures among recognised startups

The 17 March 2026 Lok Sabha answer says 6,789 recognised startups were categorised as closed, meaning dissolved or struck off, by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs on 31 January 2026, against 2,12,283 recognised. Among startups chosen for support under the three schemes, 17 of 1,382 under the Fund of Funds, 26 of 3,311 under the seed fund and 1 of 281 under the credit scheme were closed.