NEW DELHI: "From just about 350 StartUps in the year 2014, StartUps in India grew over 300 times in the last ten years after Narendra Modi took over as Prime Minister".

Stating this in an exclusive interview to a national news agency here today, Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh said, India today has the 3rd largest StartUp ecosystem globally and is home to the fastest-growing unicorns. For the first time in the history of independent India, Modi as PM made a painstaking and conscious effort to educate the youth of this country that employment is not confined only to a government job and he has promoted new avenues of livelihood which may be more lucrative than a government job, he said.

Dr Jitendra Singh said, PM Modi unleashed India's Space research by opening up the hitherto conservative and secluded sector. India has literally reached for the moon and beyond with the twin feats of Chardyaan-3 and Aditya L1 solar mission in the last year alone.

Note only this , the number of Space StartUps has gone up from a single digit to three digits in just about four years since the Space sector was opened up to the private sector, the Minister informed.

PM Modi's out-of-the-box decisions have given a push to different sectors including Space, Railways, Roads, Infrastructure and Electronics-Communication, and which has posted India's economy from 11th rank to 5th largest economy and is now on the verge of occupying 3rd rank, the Union Minister said.

Dr Jitendra Singh said , in 2014, when PM Modi took over, India stood as the world's tenth largest economy. In less than ten years, we jumped to 5th position. Hopefully this year it will emerge as the 4th largest economy and during PM Modi's 3rd term, India will be the world's 3rd largest economy, marching on to become the No.1 economy by 2047," he said.

During Financial Year 2023-24, Indian economy grew at 6 percent plus for the third successive year even as the global economy struggles to grow at around 3 percent. We are the third-largest fintech economy in the world after the USA and the UK, he said.

"India of 2024 is ready to take a giant leap, backed by its scientific acumen and technological prowess," said Dr Jitendra Singh.

Dr Jitendra Singh said, this is the age of innovation and ideas. Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the government is providing every kind of technical as well as financial support for ideas and innovations to grow and sustain. As a result, India has emerged as a leading StartUp ecosystem in the world and the time has come to strategise sustainability, he added.

Dr Jitendra Singh said, youth is the centre of focus of the Modi Government through empowerment of the Amrit-Peedhi.

"The common citizen believes that India can become the world's leading economy under the leadership of PM Modi because of the outreach he commands across the world and the common people also feel confident under the Government headed by Narendra Modi," he said.