Startups have potential to contribute $120 billion to India's GDP by 2030

New Delhi, Dec 19 (IANS) Startups will be a core driver of India’s economic growth this ‘Techade,’ likely to contribute nearly $120 billion (or 1.6 per cent) to the country’s GDP by 2030, which will be nearly 3.5 times jump from $35 billion in 2023, according to a new report.

Given that most developed economies see between 5-10 per cent of their GDP being contributed by Tech startups, India’s journey has only just begun, according to the report by venture capital firm Kalaari Capital.

In fact, the contribution by startups can surge to a whopping $1.6 trillion by 2047, thus contributing 5 per cent of the GDP when India aims to become a ‘Viksit Bharat’ with a $35 trillion economy, the report mentioned.

Also, the country is expected to have over 300 unicorns by 2030, from more than 100 at present.

“The ‘Techade’ is just the first innings in India’s golden Test match,” the report said, adding that both manufacturing and services are expected to grow significantly, cumulatively adding $800 billion of export value to the GDP.

Not just contributing to the GDP, recognised startups in India have created over 16.6 lakh direct jobs across more than 55 varied industries to date.

The highest number of direct jobs were created in the IT sector (2,04,119), followed by healthcare and life sciences (1,47,639), and professional and commercial services (94,060), according to the latest government data. This number is only going to swell in coming years.

Startups in the fields of education (90,414), human resources (87,983), construction (88,702), food and beverages (88,468), agriculture (83,307) and artificial intelligence (23,918) were other top employment generators, as per the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) data.

India is currently home to over 1,46,000 DPIIT-recognised startups, and more than 100 unicorns.

Under the 'Startup India' initiative, the government constantly undertakes various efforts for the development and growth of the startup ecosystem and to enhance job creation in the country.

The flagship schemes are the Fund of Funds for Startups (FFS), Startup India Seed Fund Scheme (SISFS), and Credit Guarantee Scheme for Startups (CGSS), which support startups at various stages of their business cycle.

The government also launched the ‘Startup India Hub’ portal for stakeholders of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in India to discover resources, information and various benefits under the ‘Startup India’ initiative on a common digital platform.