India crosses 2.62 lakh start-ups, nearly half from Tier-II, Tier-III cities

India has more than 2.62 lakh start-ups recognised by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), nearly half of them from Tier-II and Tier-III cities, the government said on Monday, 9 November 2026, as the country marked National Entrepreneurship Day. An official statement said start-ups had created more than 25 lakh jobs up to October 2026, and that over 55,200 start-ups were recognised in 2025-26, the highest number in any year since recognition began in 2016. The day marks the founding of the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship on 9 November 2014.

For young founders outside the big metros, these numbers show that the start-up story is no longer only about Bengaluru, Delhi and Mumbai. When nearly half of recognised start-ups are from smaller cities, schemes, incubators and investors have a reason to look beyond the usual hubs. DPIIT recognition matters because it is the gateway to Startup India support, including schemes such as the Seed Fund.

The government used the day to point to several schemes meant for entrepreneurs beyond the metros. GENESIS, under the electronics ministry's TIDE 2.0 programme, has an outlay of Rs 490 crore and aims to help about 1,600 technology start-ups, mainly in Tier-II and Tier-III cities. The Seed Fund Scheme, with a total corpus of Rs 945 crore, gives early money through incubators to start-ups that have an idea but little capital. ASPIRE, launched in 2025 to support young women from idea to enterprise, had reached over 80.7 lakh beneficiaries, and a national entrepreneurship campaign under the rural livelihoods mission runs until 21 November 2026.

The figures should be read with care. Recognition counts the number of start-ups registered with DPIIT, not how many are still active or profitable, and the job figures are totals reported by the government, not audited counts of current employees. They show the scale of registrations, not the health of every business.

What a reader can do next: a founder in a smaller city who wants support can apply for DPIIT recognition on the Startup India portal and then look for an incubator approved under the Seed Fund Scheme in their state, since the money is given through such incubators.

Peepals calculation: Growing from fewer than 500 start-ups in 2014 to more than 2.62 lakh means the count has multiplied more than 500 times (2,62,000 ÷ 500 ≈ 524). The 55,200 recognised in 2025-26 alone are about 21% of the total (55,200 ÷ 2,62,000 ≈ 0.21). Under the Seed Fund Scheme, the average approval works out to about Rs 18.5 lakh per start-up (775.67 crore ÷ 4,194), and GENESIS's outlay averages about Rs 30.6 lakh per targeted start-up (490 crore ÷ 1,600). Our calculation from the reported figures.

Short-term: The figures give founders and incubators in smaller cities evidence to make their case to investors and state governments. Rural entrepreneurs can still take part in the national campaign under the livelihoods mission until 21 November.

Long-term: If schemes such as GENESIS and the Seed Fund keep reaching smaller cities, more start-ups could grow where costs are lower and local problems are close at hand. Whether those firms survive and grow is a separate question that the registration figures do not answer.

Who is affected: Founders and would-be founders in Tier-II and Tier-III cities, women entrepreneurs, incubators, and state start-up missions.

What to watch next: The National Campaign on Entrepreneurship-II under DAY-NRLM, which runs until 21 November 2026.

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