By TIOL News Service

NEW DELHI, JAN 21, 2022: MINISTER of Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Piyush Goyal, today called upon the Indian industry to aim for raising 75 unicorns in the 75 weeks to the 75 th anniversary of Independence next year.

"We have added 43 unicorns added in 45 weeks, since the start of ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav' on 12th March, 2021. Let us aim for atleast 75 unicorns in this 75 week period to 75 th Anniversary of Independence," he said, while releasing the NASSCOM Tech Start-up Report 2022.

Goyal said Startup India started a revolution six years ago and today ‘Startup' has become a common household term. Indian Startups are fast becoming the champions of India Inc's growth story, he added.

"India has now become the hallmark of a trailblazer & is leaving its mark on global startup landscape. Investments received by Indian startups overshadowed pre-pandemic highs. 2021 will be remembered as the year Indian start-ups delivered on their promise, - fearlessly chasing opportunities across verticals - Edtech, HealthTech & AgriTech amongst others," he said.

Goyal lauded the ITES (Information Technology Enabled Services) industry including the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) sector for the record Services exports during the last year.

"Services Export for Apr-Dec 2021 reached more than USD178 bn despite the Covid19 pandemic when the Travel, Hospitality & Tourism sectors were significantly down," he said.

Goyal said the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has declared 16 th January as the National Startup Day, showing his commitment to take the innovation culture to every nook and corner of the country.