Gandhinagar: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday said India’s ranking on the Global Innovation Index has gone up from 91 to 38 in the last decade, and expressed confidence that it would secure a position among the top 10 in the next three years.
The Startup India campaign launched under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership has started showing results as India now has the third largest startup ecosystem globally, and has made the country’s youth job creators from job seekers, he said.
Shah was speaking at the inauguration of the Gujarat government’s Startup Conclave here.
“Recently, the Global Innovation Index was announced. In 2015, our ranking on this index was 91, but we have jumped to 38th rank in 2025. This indicates the potential that our people have. I am a firm believer that India will be among the top 10 countries in the next three years and dominate innovation in the world, looking at the performance and abilities of our youth,” he said.
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.
“In 2014, we just had 500 startups. Today, we have 1.92 lakh startups registered with DPIIT (Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade). In 2014, we had four unicorns and now we have 120 such establishments whose combined market value is over USD 350 million,” Shah said.
Today, out of the total startups, 52 per cent are in tier-II and tier-III cities. Of the total startups, 48 per cent are initiated by women, he said.
Startup ecosystem has employed 17.90 lakh people. On average, 17,000 startups have been set up annually and 9,000 of these are in tier-II and tier-III cities, the Union minister said.
Startup India campaign has made our youth job creators from job seekers, he said.
Shah said at the time of launch of Startup India scheme, the government was aware that it will not be a success if proper environment is not created for the same.
“Under the prime minister’s leadership, financial, infrastructure, policy, and banking support have been made available to startups across the country since 2014. A fund of funds of Rs 10,000 crore has been created to help startups. To promote startups, the maximum loan limit has been increased from Rs 10 crore to Rs 20 crore, and various tax concessions have also been given,” he said.
He urged industry leaders to invest in startups, saying that one of them may turn into a unicorn one day and increase their wealth.
Shah further said that for the last four years, Gujarat has been leading the country in the startup sector.
Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and his team of ministers and government officials have jointly made Gujarat the center of the startup revolution. The state is one of the top five states in the country. 16,000 startups are in Gujarat. Ahmedabad city alone is in the top-4 cities with 6,650 startups. Gujarat has become the best-performing state in the startup sector for four consecutive years, he said.
