The Centre on Monday said that recognised startups have reported to have generated more than 15.5 lakh direct jobs to date, as it detailed various initiatives taken by ministries and departments to help create even more jobs and nurture young entrepreneurs in years to come. The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has recognised 1,40,803 entities as startups (as of June 30), said Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE), Jayant Chaudhary, in a reply to a question in the Lok Sabha.
The Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME) is implementing the Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP) to assist entrepreneurs in setting up new enterprises in the non-farm sector.
It aims to provide employment opportunities to traditional artisans/ rural and urban unemployed youth at their doorstep.
Since inception, more than 9.69 lakh micro enterprises have been assisted with a Margin Money subsidy of more than Rs 25,500 crore, providing employment to an estimated 79 lakh people (both direct and indirect).
During the next two years (FY 2024-25 to FY 2025-26), the Ministry has a target to set up 1.6 lakh new enterprises with employment generation potential for 12.8 lakh people.
Similarly, the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) has implemented the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihood Mission (DAY-NRLM).
The Startup Village Entrepreneurship Programme (SVEP) is a sub-component of DAY-NRLM.
It is expected that the supported enterprises of 3,02,825 under SVEP have created an approximate employment of 6,26,848.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has launched several schemes for startups, like the ‘Technology Incubation and Development of Entrepreneurs’ (TIDE) 2.0 Scheme. The TIDE 2.0 Scheme has supported 1,235 startups, generating 8,556 jobs.
Over 55 regulatory reforms have been undertaken by the government since 2016 to enhance ease of doing business, ease of raising capital and reduce compliance burden for the startup ecosystem, informed the minister.
In the Union Budget 2024-2025, the Centre has abolished the angel tax on startups, paving the way for more foreign capital to be pumped into the ecosystem and further easing the funding winter.