The Indian government has officially acknowledged more than 1.8 lakh companies as startups as of June 30, 2025. This is a big jump from the 500 that were recognized in 2016. This was stated by Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Jitin Prasada in a written reply to the Lok Sabha on Tuesday. The main “Startup India” action plan gives recognized entrepreneurs a number of tax breaks, such as lower income tax rates.
The Minister talked about how the government is committed to helping these new firms through a number of important programs:
The Fund of Funds for Startups (FFS) program gives startups access to money through Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs). As of June 30 of this year, the FFS had helped AIFs invest ₹23,679 crore in 1,282 companies.
The Startup India Seed Fund Scheme (SISFS) helps seed-stage entrepreneurs by giving them money through incubators. As of June 30, the plan had helped 2,942 businesses get a total of ₹522.42 crore in authorized capital.
The Credit Guarantee Scheme for Startups (CGSS) gives startups credit guarantees for loans. By the end of June, 289 loans worth ₹667.85 crore had been insured for people who wanted to start a business.
The minister also talked about Geographical Indication (GI) tags in a different update. He said that the GI registry is now waiting on applications for 659 products. As of August 1, 2025, 697 goods have received a GI tag. 658 of these are from India while 39 are from other nations.