Delhi overtakes Bengaluru as India’s start-up capital

• Shubham
• 01 February, 2022

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By: Shubham Ghosh

INDIA’S capital city Delhi has pipped Bengaluru as the country’s start-up capital by adding more than 5,000 start-ups between April 2019 and December 2021, the Economic Survey 2021-22 has said.

The survey, which was tabled in the parliament on Monday (31), said Bengaluru, the information capital of India, added 4,514 start-ups during the same period.

The western state of Maharashtra meanwhile has the highest number of recognised start-ups in the country, numbering 11,308.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal expressed joy over the matter on Twitter.

He said, “Congrats Delhi for yet another achievement. Delhi with 5,000 start-ups replaces Bengaluru as start-up capital.”

Congrats Delhi for yet another achievement

Delhi with 5,000 start-ups replaces Bengaluru as start-up capital: Economic Survey- The New Indian Express https://t.co/RDET4oEkVg

— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) January 31, 2022

In 2021, India witnessed a record number of start-ups (44) reach the unicorn status. In doing so, it overtook the UK to emerge as the third-highest country in terms of unicorns after the US and China which added 487 and 301 unicorns, respectively, in 2021.

As of January 14, 2022, India has 83 unicorns with a total valuation of $277.77 billion.

“Most of India’s start-ups are in the IT or knowledge-based sector. Intellectual property, specifically patents are key to this knowledge-based economy. There has been gradual increase in the filing and granting of patents in India,” the survey said.

“The number of patents filed in India has gone up from 39,400 in 2010-11 to 45,444 in 2016-17 to 58,502 in 2020-21 and the patents granted in India has gone up from 7,509 to 9,847 to 28,391 during the same time period,” it added.

The survey also said that the number of patent application are increasingly coming from Indian residents rather than the multinational corporations. The share of Indian residents in total applications has increased from 20 per cent in 2010-11 to around 30 per cent in 2016-17 and 40 per cent in 2020-21.