Centre Recognises Record 55,200 Startups In FY26

The Centre recognised more than 55,200 startups in FY26, marking the highest number of startups recognised in a single financial year since the launch of the ‘Startup India’ initiative in 2016.

With this, the total number of DPIIT-recognised startups in the country jumped to over 2.23 Lakh as of March 31, 2026, highlighting the continued expansion of the country’s startup ecosystem, the commerce and industry ministry said in a statement.

The registered startups have collectively created more than 23.36 Lakh direct jobs so far, with over 4.99 Lakh jobs added in FY26 alone.

The number of recognised startups rose 51.6% in FY26 from over 36,400 in FY25, while direct jobs created increased 36.1% during the same period.

More than 1.07 Lakh recognised startups have at least one woman director or partner, accounting for nearly 48% of the total startup base, the statement added.

Maharashtra, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Gujarat emerged as the top startup hubs in terms of recognised entities and job creation. Maharashtra led the list with over 38,660 recognised startups, followed by Karnataka with 22,600 and Uttar Pradesh with 21,960.

Notably, the Centre, through the Startup India initiative, has taken a number of steps over the past decade to promote innovation and job creation. As a result, India has the third-largest startup ecosystem in the world.

The Fund of Funds for Startups (FFS), Startup India Seed Fund Scheme (SISFS), and Credit Guarantee Scheme for Startups (CGSS) are some of the initiatives of the Centre to promote startups.

Under FFS, more than ₹7,000 Cr has been disbursed to over 135 AIFs, which have further invested over ₹26,900 Cr in more than 1,420 startups by the end of FY26.

Recently, the DPIIT also notified the second edition of the Startup India Fund of Funds (FoF 2.0) with a total corpus of ₹10,000 Cr. The new fund came into effect from April 13, with disbursals to SEBI-registered AIFs planned across the 16th and 17th Finance Commission cycles.

Under FoF 2.0, the DPIIT has expanded the scheme’s scope to include AIFs backing deeptech startups, micro VCs supporting early stage startups, tech-driven manufacturing startups, as well as sector- and stage-agnostic ventures. 

While sectors like ecommerce, fintech and enterprise tech continue to see emergence of startups trying to address prevailing issues, the maturity in the Indian startup ecosystem has also resulted in focus turning to sectors like AI, spacetech, robotics, and more, over the past few years.

As a result, deeptech emerged as one of the most funded startup sectors in 2025, with VCs launching dedicated funds to back startups working on core technologies. Overall, Indian tech startups raised over $11 Bn last year.

The maturity of the Indian startup ecosystem is also reflected in the fact that more than 60 new-age tech companies are listed on the stock exchanges, with most of them going public over the past few years. The IPO pipeline for startups also remains strong, with nearly 50 new-age tech companies eyeing public listings. 

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