Over the past decade, the startup ecosystem has produced more than 118 unicorns valued at over $150 billion by creating millions of direct jobs, which has attracted substantial investment across sectors like SaaS, fintech, edtech, ecommerce, tech, and healthcare. India stands at a unique crossroads for achieving its target of a $7 trillion economy. The government plays a major role in entrepreneurship, innovation, and economic transformation.
Starting a business in India before 2015 was not that easy. There was no government framework focused specialy for supporting startups. The startup ecosystem was limited in scope at that time. In 2013, India had only four unicorns. Those also have very limited access to the resources they need. Everything began to change when the Indian government launched the Startup India initiative in 2015. As of late 2025, India become a home for more than 2 lakh startups and is ranked among the top three globally.
The Government has played a major role in fostering the growth of startups. One of the clearest government-supported fintech giants was Paytm. Initially, it was backed by government initiatives like UPI and Digital India. Now, Paytm has rapidly scaled and revolutionized digital payments in India. It would have been more challenging without government support. There are more such examples of companies that benefit from government initiatives.
How Government Supports Startups
The government supports startups in many ways to strengthen the startup ecosystem. Here are some ways the government is supporting the startups.
- Scale of recognized startups: At the end of 2025, India had over 2.07 lakh government-recognized startups under the Startup India programme. This has created more than 2.19 lakh direct jobs. In 2025, around 44,000 new startups were recognized. Since the beginning of the Startup India initiative, this was the highest annual increase. This reflects the growth of how government policies and recognition platforms help entrepreneurs.
- Financial Support: Starting a business needs money. The government provides financial support in different ways, like FoF 2.0, SISFS, CGSS, and many more. The Fund of Funds 2.0 announced 10,000 crore for startups, which was managed by SIDBI. This helps the startups to get investment easily. The Startup India Seed Fund Scheme supported more than 3,271 startups by providing 590.93 crore, which helps startups build their products and launch in markets. The Credit Guarantee Scheme approved 334 loans with 808 crore guaranteed without the need for property or collateral, making it easier to get bank loans.
- Easy rules & Tax benefits: The government made business by making simple rules, like self-certification, which reduces the paperwork by 60%, faster company registration, and 80% discount on patent fees. There is an 100% tax exemption for 3 years to all the eligible startups, which makes the exit process easier if the startup doesn’t work.
- Infrastructure & Support system: Through the Atal Innovation Mission, there are 10,000+ Atal Tinkering labs in schools, 72 incubation centres, 3,556+ incubated startups, and 41,965 jobs created.
- Support for women entrepreneurs: There are more schemes now for supporting women entrepreneurs. The ecosystem is becoming more inclusive, as around 48% of recognized startups have at least one woman director.
- Global recognition & Economic impact: Indian startups are contributing $140 billion to India’s economy and are expected to reach a $1 trillion contribution by 2030. The unicorns were increasing from 4 in 2014 to more than 120 in 2025, showing that the startups are playing a big role in the economic growth of India. Ranked in the top 3 startup ecosystems of the world, India grows at 12 to 15% every year.
Conclusion
Through many ways, including providing funds and creating tax incentives to reform regulations, creating infrastructure for Startups to grow, as well as offering latitude in their policies to help foster inclusion, the Indian Government has been playing a major role in developing India’s startup ecosystem. As a result of these efforts, more than two lakh recognized startups in India have created more than twenty-one lakh jobs.
However, the policies alone do not create successful entrepreneurs. Institutions like EIMR Business School prepare students with entrepreneurial skills, practical learning, and industry exposure. By combining the policies along with the entrepreneurship programs, India is not just building startups, but creating future job creators and innovators.
