Centre Says No Data Available on Startups Contribution to GDP, Number of Shutdowns due to COVID-19

• The startups' contribution to India’s gross domestic product (GDP) is yet to be recorded by the government.
• Piyush Goyal noted that there is no data on contribution to GDP by startups is maintained by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade.
• MSMEs GDP share is nearly 29% and the government is hoping to increase to 50% in five years

India is currently the third-largest startup ecosystem with 8900-9300 technology startups following the US and China.

Even as startups continue to emerge as one of the key factors to boost entrepreneurship, innovation, jobs, and investment in the country, their contribution to India’s gross domestic product (GDP) is yet to be recorded by the government.

Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, said, "No data on contribution to GDP by startups is maintained by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT)."

The startup ecosystem is currently led by the likes of Paytm, Byju’s, OYO, Freshworks, Druva, Udaan, etc. while the DPIIT has so far recognized 37,385 companies as startups under the Startup India program.

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In response to another question around The minister added that there is no data maintained by the DPIIT regarding the number of startups that have shut operations due to the Covid impact and the number of startups that are still operating though with the disruption caused due to the pandemic.

Pratap Chandra Sarangi, MoS Ministry of MSME, when asked how many enterprises have shut down their operation during the lockdown, informed that the government has no data on the number of MSMEs that were impacted due to the lockdown.

The minister was responding to a question in the Rajya Sabha on September 19, 2020, on whether enterprises have shut down during lockdown and how many have closed their operations completely and partially.

However, Goyal presented data pertaining to job creation by startups in the country. According to the data shared, the number of jobs reported by DPIIT recognized startups increased from 49,648 in 2017 to 95,338 in 2018 and 1,54,558 in 2019.

As of September 6, 2020, 4,22,986 jobs were reported by 34,267 startups with Maharashtra (80,714 jobs), Karnataka (71,533 jobs), Delhi (49,497 jobs), UP (33,803 jobs), and Haryana (29,770 jobs) were on top in job creation among other states.

Last week, Goyal informed Rajya Sabha that there was a 126 per cent jump in the number of jobs created by DPIIT-recognised startups from April 2019. 

MSMEs GDP share is nearly 29% and the government is hoping to increase to 50% in five years, as announced by MSME Nitin Gadkari on multiple public occasions.

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