The Central and State governments have played an active role in promoting the start-up ecosystem by integrating the corporate community, investors, and start-ups with policies such as Start-up India. The Indian start-up ecosystem has witnessed exponential growth over 2015-2022 as seen below:

• There has been a 15 times increase in start-up funding in India.
• Number of investors has increased 9 times over the same time period.
• There has been a seven-times increase in the number of incubators in the country.
• 66% increase in the number of unicorns in the last 4 years.

India has emerged as the 3rd largest ecosystem for start-ups globally. However, the same success has not been replicated in creating a deep-tech start-up ecosystem in the country. The need for deep-tech start-ups in the country

• Develop original idea-based companies: India’s start-up ecosystem has been largely focused on replicating the successful business models of Silicon Valley, that serve retail consumers as seen with Flipkart, Oyo, Ola, etc. India can also become a leader in the deep-tech domain by leveraging our advantages in manpower and demand.
• Achieve Digital Transformation 2.0: Digital transformation being witnessed in the country can be taken to the next level by integrating emerging technologies such as Advanced Analytics, BlockChain AI/ML, and IoT. These would make systems truly smart, intuitive, self-reliant, customized, and continuously improving systems.
• Solving real-life problems: The deep-tech can be utilized to solve real-life socio-economic problems in areas like healthcare, fintech, agriculture, and water management which have so far been not addressed effectively.
• Affordability and accessibility: Deep-tech companies operating in developed countries may not understand the needs of Indian consumers whose needs and purchasing powers are vastly different from those in advanced and rich economies.
• Alternative employment opportunities: India produces the largest number of STEM graduates who are highly sought after by MNCs globally. However, tighter visa norms in outside countries and uncertainty of secured employment have been witnessed in recent times. Deep-tech companies can provide viable employment to these graduates.
• Data localization: Apart from offering better services, Indian deep-tech companies will also help secure the country’s data security as they would prevent unscrupulous use of massive amounts of data being generated from India. This would help India achieve its aim of data localization and make the legislation more effective.

The landscape of the start-up ecosystem has started to change in the recent past with more than 1600 companies already working in the deep-tech domain. To give a firm push to the development of these companies, greater appreciation among policymakers about deep-tech start-ups, facilitating long-term funding, and focused attention and mentorship from the academia, industry, and the government would be required.