Centre says no data available on number of startups, MSMEs closed during COVID-19 lockdown

The government said it has no data available on how many startups and small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) were shut down during the lockdown. It also said that it has no records of startups' contribution to GDP.

Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha said, "No data on contribution to GDP by startups is maintained by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT)".

Goyal added the DPIIT has not maintained any data regarding the number of startups that have shut operation due to the COVID-19 pandemic and startups that are still operating.

Pratap Chandra Sarangi MoS Ministry of MSME, when asked how many enterprises have shut down their operation during the lockdown, informed that the government has no data on the number of MSMEs that were impacted due to the lockdown.

However, Goyal presented data pertaining to job creation by startups in the country. As per the DPIIT data, the number of jobs in startups has been increased to 1,54,558 in 2019 from 49,648 in 2017.

A total of 4,22,986 jobs were reported by 34,267 startups as of September 6, 2020. States like Maharashtra (80,714 jobs), Karnataka (71,533 jobs), Delhi (49,497 jobs), Uttar Pradesh (33,803 jobs), and Haryana (29,770 jobs) were on top in job creation.

Last week, Goyal informed Rajya Sabha that there was a 126 per cent jump in the number of jobs created by DPIIT-recognised startups from April 2019. As of December 2019, according to Goyal, 2,85,890 jobs were reported by 23,657 startups.

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