India is 3rd Global Ranking of Start-Up Ecosystem and Also in Terms of Number of Unicorns
13 August 2022: India ranks globally 3rd in Start-Up ecosystem and also in terms of number of Unicorns. As per the latest data, there are currently 105 unicorns, out of which 44 were born in 2021 and 19 in 2022.
This was stated by Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh while delivering keynote address at “DST StartUp Utsav” at Dr. Ambedkar International Centre, New Delhi. The Minister said, the decade 2021-30 is expected to bring transformational changes for Indian Science, Technology and Innovation (STI).
Dr. Jitendra Singh said, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India has increased the Gross Expenditure on R&D (GERD) more than three times in the last few years. He said, as per the latest data, India has over 5 lakh R&D personnel, the number that has shown a 40-50% increase in the last 8 years.
In the last 8 years, Dr. Jitendra Singh said, women’s participation in extramural R&D has also doubled and now India occupies 3rd rank in terms of number of PhDs awarded in Science and Engineering (S&E) after the USA and China. With the shifting global powers and technology becoming the epicentre of international engagements and rulemaking, India under Modi is living up to global benchmarks.
Referring to Prime Minister Modi’s launch of StartUp India from the ramparts of Red Fort in 2015, Dr Jitendra Singh said, India in its 75th year of Independence is now home to as many as 75,000 StartUps. The Minister said, Modi’s special focus on Science, Technology and Innovation has fired the imagination of the youth in the country to innovate and solve problems with new ideas. He also pointed out that India’s startups today are not limited to only metros or big cities and added that 49 per cent of the start-ups are from tier-2 and tier-3 cities. He said, we have startups emerging in the fields like IT, agriculture, aviation, education, energy, health and space sectors.
Dr Jitendra Singh informed that India has created a massive jump in its global ranking of Global Innovation Index (GII) from 81st in the year 2015 to 46th in 2021 among 130 economies of the world. India ranks 2nd among 34 lower middle-income economies?and 1st among 10 Central and Southern Asian economies in terms of GII. The consistent improvement in the GII ranking is owing to the immense knowledge capital, the vibrant start-up ecosystem, and some outstanding work done by the public and private research organisations, the Minister added.
