National Startup Day 2024: History, significance and all you need to know

National Startup Day 2024:In 2022, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi officially declared 16 January as National Startup Day. Under the Startup India programme, startups in the country expanded from around 400to 1.18 lakh.

Union Minister Piyush Goyal shared a post on X saying, "Celebrating 8️ Incredible Years of Startup India! A result of PM Narendra Modi ji's visionary leadership, this initiative is advancing our country's startup ecosystem to greater heights. On the #NationalStartupDay, I extend my best wishes to our talented entrepreneurs who with their hard work & innovative zeal are paving the way for India's emergence as a 'Global Hub for Startups."

Indian startups have been flourishing in the spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship in several fields. The theme for National Startup Day 2023 was "Founder of Today, Leader of Tomorrow." In 2024, Startup India recognised 10-18 January as Innovation Week 2024 with the theme, "Celebrating 8 Years of Innovation."

Startup India shared on their official X account, "9,978 startups were recognised in July-September 2023."

History And Significance of National Startup Day

PM Modi inaugurated the Startup India initiative on 16 January 2016 to create a powerful and dynamic environment for startups that foster innovation by supporting them financially. Six years later, he officially designated 16 January as National Startup Day to acknowledge the startups and their contribution to nation-building, socio-economic development and self-reliance.

The Startup India programme helps government-recognised startups by providing them with several benefits, like compliance self-certification for labour and environmental laws, assistance in patent applications, and tax exemption under section 80IAC of the Income-tax Act.

The official website of Startup India says, "Startup India initiative has played a pivotal role in shaping the startup ecosystem in India. Multiple initiatives like the Seed Fund Scheme, Fund of Funds Scheme, Credit Guarantee Scheme for Startups, MAARG mentorship platform, National Startup Awards, State Ranking Framework are some of the key pillars driving the spirit of entrepreneurship."

So far, the Indian government has given 2,977 income tax exemptions and provided 3,658 startups with funds under the SIDBI Fund of Funds scheme, established in 2016 with a corpus of ₹10,000 crore. The scheme also gives capital to Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs) registered with SEBI, also called daughter funds. These funds invest money in startups through equity and equity-linked instruments.

(With inputs from agencies)