(MENAFN- KNN India)
New Delhi, Jan 17 (KNN) Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal marked the ninth anniversary of the Startup India programme on Thursday by launching the Bharat Startup Grand Challenge, a comprehensive initiative aimed at fostering innovation across multiple sectors.
The challenge will connect entrepreneurs with 20 major corporations to address challenges in diverse fields including renewable energy, agritech, healthcare, robotics, cleantech, blockchain, semiconductor, and social commerce.
The initiative promises significant opportunities for participating startups, offering procurement possibilities, cash prizes, funding support, mentoring programs, and capacity-building measures.
Looking ahead, the government has set an ambitious target to introduce 75 sector-specific challenges by the 2026 anniversary of the Startup India programme.
During the event, Goyal also unveiled the updated Prabhaav guide, a comprehensive factbook documenting DPIIT's Startup India programme's nine-year journey, highlighting India's entrepreneurial growth and the increasing presence of women entrepreneurs.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi celebrated the occasion on social media platform X, emphasising how Indian startups are contributing to global problem-solving while generating employment opportunities and advancing the nation's self-reliance goals.
Modi noted the remarkable transformation of India's startup ecosystem, which has emerged as one of the world's largest and most dynamic, defying skepticism from a decade ago.
The government reports that the Startup India initiative, launched on January 16, 2016, has now recognised 1.59 enterprises as startups across 55 industries, including agriculture, IT, biotech, fintech, education, and renewable energy.
These DPIIT-recognised startups have generated over 17.2 lakh direct jobs, demonstrating the program's significant impact on employment generation and economic growth since its inception, which is commemorated annually as National Startup Day since 2022.
(KNN Bureau)
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