New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses the Pongal celebrations event in New Delhi on Wednesday, January 14, 2026. (Photo: IANS/PMO)
New Delhi, January 15 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi has played a decisive leadership role in strengthening India’s startup ecosystem, with his vision, top entrepreneurs said on Thursday.
According to them, the development of digital public infrastructure such as the JAM Trinity (Jan Dhan, Aadhaar and Mobile) and UPI for making business easier and more inclusive.
Healthcare platform 1mg CEO Prashant Tandon said India today offers everything an entrepreneur needs to build and scale a business.
“Since Prime Minister Modi took charge, startups have moved into the spotlight. India has successfully established itself on the global startup map,” he said.
Tandon added that startups are now widely understood and supported not only by entrepreneurs, but also by corporates, governments and society at large.
“Strong public digital infrastructure has enabled founders to build solutions aligned with the country’s real needs,” Tandon added.
Urban Company co-founder and CEO Abhiraj Singh Bahl said that when his company started, India had only one or two unicorns.
“Over the last eight years, the ecosystem has transformed dramatically. Today, India has over 110 unicorns and thousands of startups across sectors. This growth is a result of the leadership and support provided by Prime Minister Modi,” he said.
Pristyn Care co-founder Harsimranbir Singh said PM Modi’s 2015 speech at Madison Square Garden in New York inspired him to return to India.
“He has the mindset of a startup CEO. Whenever he identifies a problem, he moves quickly to solve it. The government’s response to global semiconductor challenges and the $20–30 billion investment in this sector reflects that approach,” he said.
Rage Coffee founder Bharat Sethi recalled attending the launch of the Startup India Mission at Vigyan Bhavan in 2016.
“Very few people truly understood then what was about to happen. India was entering a transformation phase. Today, our startup growth is largely a result of the Startup India Mission,” he said.
