National Startup Day 2026 – January 16

National Startup Day is observed every year across India on January 16 to celebrate the country’s progress in building a robust, dynamic, and inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystem.

• National Start-up Day 2026 marks the completion of 10 years of Start-up India.

Background:

Launch: Startup India, a transformative initiative led by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoC&I) was launched in 2016.

Declaration: In 2022, the Government of India (GoI) declared January 16 as National Startup Day to celebrate the nation’s stride in promoting a robust and inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystem.

About Startup India Initiative:

Key Accomplishments:

Startups: As of December 2025, DPIIT has recognised over 2 lakh startups, rise from just 500 in 2014, firmly establishing India as the world’s 3rd largest startup ecosystem.

• In 2025, nearly 44,000 new startups were registered, the highest single‑year growth since the scheme began.
• Over 45% of recognised startups having at least one-woman Director/Partner.
• Bengaluru (Karnataka), Hyderabad (Telangana), Mumbai (Maharashtra), and Delhi-National Capital Region(NCR) are India’s key startup hubs, while nearly 50% of DPIIT-recognised startups come from Tier-II and Tier-III cities.

Unicorns: The number of unicorns (valued above USD 1 billion)has increased from 4 to over 120 (in 2025), with combined valuation exceeding USD 350 billion.

Flagship schemes & Portals  :

Funds of Funds for Startups (FFS): It is a flagship initiative of DPIIT, launched under the Startup India Action Plan with total budget outlay of Rs 10,000 crore.

• The scheme is managed by Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI).
• It supports Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI)-registered Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs), which in turn invest in startups, expanding access to domestic risk capital and bolstering the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the country.
• The Government of India (GoI) has committed over Rs 10,000 crore to more than 140 AIFs, which have collectively invested over Rs 25,500 crore in more than 1,370 startups.

Credit Guarantee Scheme for Startups(CGSS): This scheme aimed to provide collateral free loans to startups through eligible financial institutions.

• The scheme is currently being implemented by the National Credit Guarantee Trustee Company (NCGTC) Limited.
• So far, over 300 loans worth more than Rs 800 crore have been guaranteed for startup borrowers under CGSS.

Startup India Seed Fund Scheme (SISFS): The scheme with a total budget outlay of Rs 945 crore, provides financial support to startups for activities like: proof of concept, prototyping, product trials, market entry, and commercialisation.

• The scheme is managed by an Expert Advisory Committee (EAC), which is responsible for its implementation, execution and monitoring.
• The corpus of Rs 945 crore has been approved to over 215 incubators to support early-stage startups under the scheme.

Startup India Online Hub: It is a one-of-a-kind digital platform for all stakeholders of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the country to discover, connect, and engage with each other.

States’ Startup Ranking Framework (SRF): It examines  States and Union Territories (UTs) based on their startup-friendly policies and implementation.

• The framework aims to foster competitive federalism to bolster India’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.
• It has classified states and UTs into 5 main categories such as: Best Performers, Top Performers, Leaders, Aspiring Leaders, and Emerging Startup ecosystems.

National Mentorship Portal (MAARG): The Mentorship, Advisory, Assistance, Resilience, and Growth (MAARG) program provides easy mentorship access to startups across the country.

Startup India Investor Connect Portal: It is a digital platform, developed in collaboration with SIDBI, connecting startups with Venture Capital (VC) funds and investors, with a particular focus on early-stage ventures.

Key Schemes Strengthening Startup India Initiative:

Atal Innovation Mission (AIM):  It was launched in 2016 with an outlay of Rs 2,750 crore  up to March 2028. It aims to promote a nationwide culture of innovation and entrepreneurship across schools, universities, research institutions, startups and industry.

• It is currently being implemented by the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog).
• So far, AIM has engaged over 1.1 crore students and enabled more than 16 lakh innovation  projects. Also, over 10,000 Atal Tinkering Labs (ATLs) have been spread across 733 districts of the country.

Gen-Next Support for Innovative Startups (GENESIS): In July 2022, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) launched GENESIS, a National Deep-tech startup platform, with a budgetary outlay of Rs 490 crore for a period of  5 years.

• This digital platform aims to scale up about 1600 technology startups through implementing agencies in Tier-II and Tier-III cities across India.

MeitY Startup Hub (MSH): It was established under the MeitY in 2016, aimed to promote technology-driven innovation and strengthen India’s startup ecosystem.

• The hub acts as a central platform that connects incubation centres, Centres of Excellence (CoEs) on Emerging Technologies, and other platforms supported by MeitY.
• As of December 2025, MSH has supported over 6,148 startups, more than 517 incubators and over 329 labs nationwide.

TIDE 2.0 Scheme: Technology Incubation and Development of Entrepreneurs (TIDE) 2.0 scheme, developed within the MeitY, was launched in 2019 to drive technology-led entrepreneurship by strengthening incubators that support Information and Communication Technology (ICT) startups using emerging technologies like: Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), blockchain and robotics.

• It also supports startups across various sectors like: healthcare, education, agriculture, financial inclusion, infrastructure and transportation and environment and clean tech.

Startup Village Entrepreneurship Program (SVEP): It was launched in May 2015 as a sub-scheme under the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihood Mission (DAY-NRLM) which is led by the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD).

• It aims to  promote rural entrepreneurship by assisting households to establish and scale local enterprises.
• As of June 2025, SVEP has supported 3.74 lakh enterprises, strengthening local economies and enhancing income-generating opportunities at the grassroots level.

ASPIRE: A Scheme for Promotion of Innovation, Rural Industries and Entrepreneurship (ASPIRE), launched by the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MoMSME) in 2015, aims to promote innovation and entrepreneurship in rural and underserved areas.

• It provides financial support of maximum Rs 1 crore to government agencies and Rs 75 lakh to private agencies for the procurement of plant and machinery.
• Also, provides maximum Rs 1 crore to government and private agencies as operational expenditures (that include manpower cost, running incubation and skill development programmers, among others).
• As of December 16 2025, 1,16,726 beneficiaries have been trained under ASPIRE scheme. This includes 18,444 self-employed, 13,824 wage employed and 1,14 micro-enterprises established.

PMEGP: The Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP), a Central Sector Scheme (CSS), was launched in 2008 by integrating the earlier Prime Minister’s Rojgar Yojana (PMRY) and Rural Employment Generation Programme (REGP) into a unified framework.

• The scheme is implemented through the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) under the MoMSME.
• The scheme extends Margin Money (MM) support to General category beneficiaries like: it covers 25% of the project cost in rural areas and 15% in urban areas of the country.
• In addition to that, it provides an enhanced MM subsidy of 35% (in rural areas) and 25% (in urban areas) to eligible Special category beneficiaries, including SC, Scheduled Tribe (ST), Other Backward Class (OBC), Minority, Women, among others.
• It also supports projects up to Rs 50 lakh in the manufacturing sector and Rs 20 lakh in the service sector.

2026 Events:

Event: On the occasion of National Startup Day 2026 celebrations, Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi addressed the startup founders, innovators, and young entrepreneurs programme held at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi, Delhi.

• During the event, DPIIT unveiled the results of the 5th edition of the National Startup Awards (NSA 5.0) and SRF 5.0, two flagship initiatives under the Startup India programme.

NSA 5.0: The awards spread across 20 categories recognise startups from Tier-I and Tier-III cities, covering deep-tech innovation and emerging sectors.

SRF 5.0: The current edition has evaluated the performance of 34 States and UTs in enabling startup growth on the ground level, across 6 reform areas and 19 clearly defined action points, covering policy and institutional support, physical and digital infrastructure, access to funding , market access and linkages, capacity building, among others.

Winners of National Startup Awards (NSA 5.0):

Winners of SRF 5.0

About Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoC&I):
Union Minister- Piyush Goyal (Constituency- Mumbai North, Maharashtra)
Minister of State (MoS)- Jitin Prasada (Constituency- Pilibhit, Uttar Pradesh, UP)