Virendra Singh Rawat / Lucknow
Noida in the National Capital Region (NCR) has emerged as the leading startup hub in Uttar Pradesh with nearly 40 percent share of the startup landscape in the state.
Of the total 3,800 startups incorporated in UP, Noida accounts for about 1,500 startups and counting. Among the top UP-based unicorns incorporated in Noida include Paytm and Pine Labs.
Noida is trailed by Ghaziabad and Lucknow with about 600 and 575 startups respectively with the three cities collectively making up the top three startup centres in the state.
According to a senior UP government official, the state has witnessed a 20 fold increase in the number of startups after the current Yogi Adityanath government came to power in March 2017.
Against merely 200 startups housed in UP till 2017, the number of startups has burgeoned to over 3,800 after the promulgation of the new startup policy.
To unlock the startup potential and catalyse the pharmaceutical sector, the UP government had recast the existing policy in October to promulgate the new UP Startup Policy 2021, which promises a host of sops including capital subsidy etc.
“UP is fast emerging as a leading startup hub in India owing to the proactive ‘doing business’ policy. It is not only facilitating new startups but providing jobs to a large number of youth,” he noted.
The Adityanath government has planned to establish 100 incubation centres and 10,000 new startups in different fields, viz. education, health, agriculture, textile, IT, IT-enabled services etc.
Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has positioned India as one of the world’s leading startup and unicorn hubs. Speaking at the 54th convocation of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur on Tuesday, the PM said India was the 2nd largest and 3rd largest startup and unicorn hub respectively.
Modi wants innovation as hallmark of New India
He claimed India had produced 75 unicorns and 50,000 startups, while 10,000 startups had come up in the last six months alone due to adept hand holding by the Centre.
Meanwhile, UP is aiming to become the leading startup friendly state and provide the best business ecosystem in the country.