Working Paper: 514

Indian Startup Ecosystem: Analysing Investment
 Concentration and Performance of Government Programmes

Fakih Amrin Kamaluddin
Kala Seetharam Sridharm

 

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to assess the concentration of investment in the Indian startup ecosystem and to assess the performance of government programmes launched for benefitting startups in the country.

Descriptive statistics were used to explain trends in investment while the Startup India website and RTI were used to gather information on the performance of government programmes. We find that investment is concentrated in platform business model startups. The performance of government programmes meant for startups is limited. The acceptance rate under ‘Startup India’ is 5% to 7%. Many of the centrally-sponsored schemes listed on the Startup India hub do not maintain separate data on startup beneficiaries showing limited benefits to startups.

This study contributes to scant academic literature available on investment trends and performance of government programmes related to Indian startups. It highlights huge spatial and sectoral investment concentration and poor performance of government programmes.

 

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