Hailing India’s remarkable progress in building unicorns and startups, Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar prophesised that the next 4-5 years will witness substantial growth for such enterprises and the startups in the country will increase by 10 times.

Speaking at the JITO Incubation Innovation Foundation (JIIF) Sixth Foundation Day and Investors/Startup Conclave in Hyderabad, the Union Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and Electronics and IT, highlighted India’s remarkable progress in creating unicorns and startups, how they have successfully entered areas in emerging technologies such as AI, Web3, and deep tech, an official release said on Sunday.

The Minister, who engaged with industry leaders and aspiring young entrepreneurs, emphasised the transformative journey India has embarked upon since 2014. From being predominantly focussed on IT and ITes, the next 4-5 years will witness substantial growth for startups and unicorns, Chandrasekhar said during his interaction.

“In 2014, our nation’s tech landscape was limited to IT and ITes. However, since then, opportunities have emerged across various domains such as deep tech, AI, data economy, semiconductor design, microelectronics, and high-performance computing,” he said.

Due to the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, what was once just one-third of the overall tech space has now expanded, presenting immense potential for unicorns and startups, he said.

“From 108 unicorns, I am sure we will reach 10,000 in the next 4-5 years. Today, we have over a lakh startups in India and it will increase by 10 times,” the Minister said, according to the release.

Chandrasekhar further lauded the collaborative efforts between the industry and the government to enhance skill development.

Recognising the historic challenges faced by a significant portion of the population lacking skills, the Minister emphasised the transformative impact of PM Modi’s Skill India initiative.

He said that through strategic partnerships with both big and small companies, the government now works closely to identify necessary skills, creating a comprehensive framework with the active involvement of academia, communities and corporations.

“In 2014, there were three out of four Indians who were not skilled. Professionals joined the workforce every year unskilled and this was the legacy and the reason why for many years, we had many smart people but they went off abroad,” he said.

Education and skills were available to the elite part of the society and the rest were left to fend for themselves and survive on their own. The Skill India programme reversed this trend, he said.

“We continue to work with the industry in partnership with big and small companies and they tell us what these skills are and the government partners towards creating a framework that is developed through a network academia. Community and corporate partnerships are very important elements to startups,” the Minister added.

-PTI