Minister of Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Piyush Goyal today called upon the Indian industry to aim for raising 75 unicorns in the 75 weeks to the 75th anniversary of Independence next year.
“We have added 43 unicorns added in 45 weeks, since the start of ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’ on 12th March, 2021. Let us aim for atleast 75 unicorns in this 75 week period to 75th Anniversary of Independence,” he said, while releasing the NASSCOM Tech Start-up Report 2022.
Goyal said Startup India started a revolution six years ago and today ‘Startup’ has become a common household term. Indian Startups are fast becoming the champions of India Inc’s growth story, he added.
“India has now become the hallmark of a trailblazer & is leaving its mark on global startup landscape. Investments received by Indian startups overshadowed pre-pandemic highs. 2021 will be remembered as the year Indian start-ups delivered on their promise, – fearlessly chasing opportunities across verticals – Edtech, HealthTech & AgriTech amongst others,” he said.
Goyal lauded the ITES (Information Technology Enabled Services) industry including the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) sector for the record Services exports during the last year.
“Services Export for Apr-Dec 2021 reached more than $178 bn despite the Covid19 pandemic when the Travel, Hospitality & Tourism sectors were significantly down,” he said.
Piyush Goyal said the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has declared 16th January as the National Startup Day, showing his commitment to take the innovation culture to every nook and corner of the country.
“We all celebrated this innovation spirit through Startup India Innovation Week, during the last week as part of ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’. PM’s interaction with Startups a week ago has supercharged the courage of our innovators,” he said Government has taken several steps to boost startup ecosystem, –
- Removing problems of ‘Angel tax’, simplification of tax procedure & allowing self-certification and self-regulation towards which we are moving
- Reducing burden of over 26,500 compliances
- Decriminalization of 770 compliances
Goyal said the New India is today being led by new troika of Innovation, Technology & Entrepreneurship (ITE), which in a way has grown further from the original ICE (Information, Communication & Entertainment).
“I remember when ICE was introduced many years ago, we were excited about the new information age. Today, that same vibrancy & excitement is witnessed in the way our startups are growing in the ITE areas,” he said.
