Amit Shah, the Union Home Minister of India, noted that the country has been ranked 91 on Global Innovation Index, but within the past decade it has moved to 38, and assured that the country would be ranked among the top 10 in the next three years.

The Startup India initiative that was initiated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is beginning to bear fruits, with India today having the third biggest startup ecosystem in the entire world, and the youth of India has become job makers rather than job seekers as he said.

Shah was speaking at the inauguration of the Gujarat government's Startup Conclave here.

"Recently, the Global Innovation Index was announced. In 2015, our ranking on this index was 91 but we have jumped to 38th rank in 2025. This indicates the potential that our people have. I am a firm believer that India will be among the top 10 countries in the next three years and dominate innovation in the world looking at the performance and abilities of our youth," Amitadds.

The Startup India scheme is the Indian government's flagship initiative launched in 2016 to promote innovation and create a robust startup ecosystem, transforming India from a job-seeking to a job-creating nation.

"In 2014, we just had 500 startups. Today, we have 1.92 lakh startups registered with DPIIT (Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade). In 2014, we had four unicorns and now we have 120 such establishments whose combined market value is over $350 million,"Amit says.

Today, out of the total startups, 52 percent are in tier-II and tier-III cities. Of the total startups, 48 percent are initiated by women, he said.

The startup ecosystem has employed 17.90 lakh people. On an average, 17,000 startups have been set up annually and 9,000 of these are in tier-II and tier-III cities, the Union minister said. The Startup India campaign has made our youth job creators from job seekers, he said.

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Amit says at the time of launch of Startup India scheme, the government was aware that it will not be a success if proper environment is not created for the same.

"Under the Prime Minister's leadership, financial, infrastructure, policy and banking support has been made available to startups across the country since 2014. A fund of funds of Rs. 10,000 crore has been created to help startups. To promote startups, the maximum loan limit has been increased from Rs.10 crore to Rs.20 crore, and various tax concessions have also been given," Amit adds.

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He urged industry leaders to invest in startups, saying that one of them may turn into a unicorn one day and increase your wealth.Mr. Shah further said that for the last four years, Gujarat has been leading the country in the startup sector.

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Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and his team of Ministers and government officials have jointly made Gujarat the center of the startup revolution. State is one of the top five States in the country. 16,000 startups are in Gujarat. Ahmedabad city alone is in the top-4 cities with 6,650 startups. Gujarat has become the best performing State in the startup sector for four consecutive years, he said.