January 16 to be celebrated as 'National Start-up Day': PM Modi

India is going to celebrate January 16 as "National Start-up Day", the Prime Minister's said on Saturday.

"To make the culture of start-ups reach the far-flung parts of the country, it has been decided to celebrate January 16 as "National Start-up Day", the Prime Minister said while addressing start-ups across the country.

The PM said that 2022 has brought more new opportunities for India's start-up sector and organizing of Start-Up India Innovation Week is also important in the 75th year of India's independence.

"In this decade, the decisions being taken by the government for innovation, entrepreneurship and startup ecosystem have three major aspects. Firstly, Entrepreneurship- to free it from beauracratic silos. Secondly, Innovation - Institutional mechanism needs to be developed. Thirdly, Handholding young innovators."

Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacted with over 150 startups on January 15 to boost the startup ecosystem in the country, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said.

Startups from various sectors including Agriculture, Health, Enterprise Systems, Space, Industry 4.0, Security, Fintech, Environment etc are a part of this interaction.

The PMO in a statement said that more than 150 startups have been divided into six working groups based on themes including Growing from Roots; Nudging the DNA; From Local to Global; Technology of Future; Building Champions in Manufacturing and Sustainable Development.

As a part of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, a week-long event, "Celebrating Innovation Ecosystem", is being hosted by DPIIT, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, from 10 to 16 January 2022. The event marks the 6th anniversary of the launch of the Startup India initiative.