In the report titled ‘The Indian Economy: A Review January 2024,’ the Department of Economic Affairs highlighted that the government-recognized 1.14 lakh startups under the ‘Startup India initiative’ have generated over 12 lakh jobs as of October 2023. The state-owned ecommerce platform Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) recorded over 63 lakh transactions until November 2023, despite facing challenges such as valuation issues, limited IPOs, regulatory changes, and global economic and geopolitical trends in 2023.
India maintains its position as the third-largest tech startup ecosystem globally, witnessing the foundation of over 950 tech startups in the previous year. The cumulative funding for more than 31,000 tech startups has surpassed $70 billion from 2019 to 2023, according to a recent report by Nasscom in collaboration with Zinnov.
Debjani Ghosh, President of Nasscom, noted that in 2023, despite global challenges, Indian tech startups prioritized enhancing business fundamentals, focusing on profitability and growth. The resilience of the ecosystem is evident in the proliferation of tech startups in tier 2 and 3 cities.
Looking ahead to 2024, tech startup founders anticipate continuing the path of revenue growth while taking measured steps to optimize expenditure and maximize profitability, especially for B2B tech startups. Investments in deeptech are expected to see an upward trend, with 70% of startup founders incorporating artificial intelligence (AI), particularly generative AI (GenAI), in their solutions.
Despite general funding challenges in the Indian startup ecosystem, the surge in Artificial Intelligence (AI) has provided renewed opportunities for entrepreneurs and founders, supported by the government’s commitment to the sector.
