Startups should focus on smaller cities, social issues: DPIIT Secy Jain

Civil servant says these places hold business opportunities and can help build startup ecosystem.

Startups should focus on India’s smaller cities where there are huge business opportunities, said Anurag Jain, secretary in the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), on Thursday.

“We should not forget the rural markets, tier two and three cities. Rural market will grow very fast... In our solutions, we should always remember whether my solution is sustainable or not,” Jain said at CII's Global Unicorn Summit.

According to government data, around 45 per cent startups in India are from tier-two and three cities and 623 districts have at least one recognized startup. From 2018 to 2021, almost 5.9 lakh