The Indian government has made the rules much easier for companies making space chips (semiconductor) and doing research on medicines (biotech). Earlier these companies were considered ‘startups’ only for 10 years of their inception. But now the government has increased this time to 20 years. Such companies take a very long time to develop their technology and become successful. Now, due to being in the category of ‘Startup’ for 20 years, they will continue to get the benefits of government help, tax exemption and less paperwork for a long time.
Now despite earning ₹300 crore, it will get startup status
The government has not only extended the deadline for startups but has also made a major change in their earning limit. Whereas earlier the startup status was taken away from the companies as soon as they earned ₹100 crore, now this limit has been increased to ₹300 crore, so that despite earning more, they continue to get facilities like tax exemption and government help. The main reason for this is that companies working on science and deep tech take many years to prepare their product and bring it to the market. The biggest advantage of this change will be that the companies which earlier used to indicate to investors that the startup had failed by being ‘old’ in the government papers even before the technology was complete, will now be able to focus on their research and technology peacefully without any pressure.
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Government and private companies together created a fund for startups
The government and big investors are now working together to help startups that do new discoveries and research (R&D).
Government help: The government has created a special fund of ₹1 lakh crore. This fund will provide money to companies that need capital for a very long time to complete their research. It is called ‘Patient Capital’ because in this the investor is not in a hurry to make profits.
With private companies: Big investor companies from India and America (like Accel and Premji Invest) have together formed ‘India Deep Tech Alliance’. It is a consortium that has decided to invest more than ₹8,000 crore ($1 billion).
Advice from leading companies: Nvidia, the world’s largest chip maker, is involved as an advisor so that these startups can get the right direction.
India still lags behind compared to other rich countries
Due to this step of the government, the confidence of investors in Indian startups is increasing but we are still far behind in comparison to the world. Indian deep tech companies received about $1.1 billion (about ₹9,000 crore) in 2024, which has increased to $1.65 billion (about ₹13,700 crore) in 2025. This is a good improvement. But if we compare with other countries, India is still far behind-
America: $147 billion (80 times more than India)
China: $81 billion (about 50 times more than India)
India: $1.65 billion
This simply means that money is coming into India and the situation is improving but we still have a long way to go to catch up with countries like America and China.
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The future and global competition
Experts believe that these new rules of the government will have two big benefits-
1. Confidence of foreign investors will increase: Big investors say that now investors around the world will be convinced that India’s policies are made for the long term and will not change frequently. With this they will be able to invest money in India without any hesitation.
2. Companies will not leave India: Earlier, many startups used to take their headquarters (HQ) abroad for more facilities. But now Indian stock markets are also liking companies with new technology, hence companies will not leave India.
