(MENAFN- KNN India) New Delhi, Dec 2 (KNN) Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, in a written reply to the Lok Sabha on Tuesday said that the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) had recognised 1,97,692 entities as startups under the Startup India initiative as of October 2025.

Of these, 4,147 startups have received eligibility certificates under Section 80-IAC of the Income Tax Act, allowing a three-year tax deduction on profits from eligible business activities.

According to government data, recognised startups have collectively reported the creation of over 21.11 lakh direct jobs nationwide, with Maharashtra accounting for 34,444 entities generating more than 3.76 lakh jobs.

Nearly half (48 per cent) of all startups have at least one woman director or partner, and DPIIT-recognised startups are present across every State and Union Territory.

The initiative's financial support framework includes three flagship schemes: the Fund of Funds for Startups (FFS), the Startup India Seed Fund Scheme (SISFS), and the Credit Guarantee Scheme for Startups (CGSS).

As of October 2025, the FFS corpus of Rs 10,000 crore has been allocated to 144 Alternative Investment Funds, SISFS funds of Rs 945 crore approved for 219 incubators, and CGSS guarantees extended for 311 loans worth Rs 755.25 crore.

Non-financial measures under the initiative include four editions each of the States' Startup Ranking Framework and National Startup Awards, the Startup Mahakumbh platform for networking and collaboration, onboarding over 34,400 startups on the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) generating more than 4.8 lakh orders worth over Rs 47,500 crore, and the filing of over 16,000 patent applications by startups under reformed intellectual property processes.

Regulatory reforms under Startup India have simplified over 47,000 compliances through digitisation, decriminalisation, redundancy removal, and simplification exercises across central and state government departments.

Tax-related measures include profit-linked deductions under Section 80-IAC, TDS deferral on Employee Stock Option Plans, loss carry-forward and set-off relaxations, and GST concessions for incubator-based entrepreneurs.

Government initiatives, including the National Startup Awards, climate-tech challenges under the Bharat Startup Grand Challenge, and innovation hackathons, have supported the recognition of 4,024 startups in the green technology sector.

(KNN Bureau)

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