India’s Startup Ecosystem Surpasses 2 Lakh Milestone, Fueled by FDI, PLI, and Reforms

According to the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), approximately 2,01,335 startups have been recognised under the Startup India initiative till date, which has created 21 lakh-plus jobs nationwide. Over 48% of the recognised startups in India have at least one woman director. In addition, DPIIT also highlighted developments in certain sectors, in its year-end press release.Those sectors are as follows:

​On Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)

Gross FDI inflows have reached $1.1 trillion from April 2000 to June 2025. Annual FDI inflow in India has more than doubled, rising from $36.05 billion in FY 2013-14 to $80.62 billion in FY 2024-25. For 2025-26 (up to June 25), India’s provisional FDI inflows stand at $26.61 billion, marking a 17% increase year-on-year.  

In the last 11 fiscal years (2014–25), India drew $748.38 billion in FDI, a 143% jump from the $308.38 billion received in the preceding 11-year span (2003–14). Approximately 70% of the total FDI over the past 25 years (2000-25: $1,071.96 billion) arrived between 2014 and 2025.

On Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Schemes

For the 14 key sectors covered by PLI schemes, with an outlay of ₹1.97 lakh crore, actual investment exceeding ₹1.88 lakh crore has been realised by June 2025. This has led to incremental production/sales over ₹17 lakh crore and created over 12.3 lakh jobs (direct and indirect) in these 14 sectors. Exports under the PLI schemes surpass ₹7.5 lakh crore, led by sectors such as electronics, pharmaceuticals, telecom & networking products, and food processing.

On Ease of Doing Business

To enhance Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) in the country, the DPIIT is leading reforms such as the Business Reform Action Plan (BRAP), B-Ready Assessment, Jan Vishwas Act, and the Reducing Compliance Burden (RCB) framework.

Seven BRAP editions (2015, 2016, 2017–18, 2019, 2020, 2022, 2024) have been smoothly implemented, with states/UTs assessed accordingly. BRAP 2024 (seventh edition) results are published, and the eighth edition, BRAP 2026, commenced on 11 November 2025.

Following the National Conference of Chief Secretaries last year, the District Business Reform Action Plan (D-BRAP) was launched to extend business reforms to the district levels for faster approvals.

Under the RCB exercise, over 47,000 compliances were reduced by November 2025: 16,108 simplified, 22,287 digitised, 4,458 decriminalized, and 4,270 eliminated.

On National Single Window System

As of 20 November 2025, 11,568 approvals were granted via the National Single Window System (NSWS) out of 26,504 applications received that month. Cumulatively, 11,75,435 approvals were applied for, and 8,29,750 were granted through the portal.

On Industrial Performance

The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) grew 3% during April-September 2025-26 compared to the same period last year. The Index of Eight Core Industries (ICI), covering Cement, Coal, Crude Oil, Electricity, Fertilisers, Natural Gas, Petroleum Refinery Products, and Steel (weight: 40.27% in IIP), recorded cumulative growth of 2.5% for April-October 2025-26.

On Global Innovation Index (GII)

India’s GII rank rose from 81st in 2015 to 38th in 2025 among 139 economies. India is recognized as a long-standing over-performer, exceeding development expectations for the 15th consecutive year, according to the GII report 2025.

On Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)

Among the top 20 origins, patent applications from Indian innovators grew 19.1% which is the highest in 2024- the sixth straight year of double-digit growth, witnessing a significant increase in resident filings. Over the past decade, domestic patent filings surged 425% (12,040 in 2014 to 63,217 in 2024), while foreign filings increased by 27% (10,405 to 13,188 from 2014 to 2024).

According to the release, India recorded the 4th-highest number of trademark filings globally in 2024, with over 5.5 lakh applications. Indian residents’ filings abroad increased by 125% in ten years (9,028 in 2014 to 20,303 in 2024).

With over 40,000 design filings in 2024, India saw the highest growth (43.2%) among the top 20 IP offices, moving to 7th position from 11th in 2023. Design filings by Indians abroad surged 600% in the past decade (368 in 2014 to 2,976 in 2024).

Awareness initiatives, including the National Intellectual Property Awareness Mission (launched December 2021), have reached over 2.5 million students in 3.5 years, contributing to a 90% rise in patent filings from educational institutes (from 19,155 in 2022-23 to 36,525 in 2024-25).