Policy blueprint proposes entrepreneurship mission to create 10 lakh enterprises, upto 50 lakh jobs

A policy recommendation has proposed a National Entrepreneurship Mission to create 10 lakh enterprises and upto 50 lakh jobs in five years by connecting India's existing startup and enterprise support schemes into a single, end-to-end journey for first-time founders.

The document released on Monday by think tank, The Bharat Project, said India does not need another entrepreneurship scheme but "the connective infrastructure" to turn existing schemes, institutions, capital, knowledge and markets into "one continuous entrepreneurial journey".

The document titled “Building India's Next 10 Lakh Entrepreneurs: A National Entrepreneurship Mission-Policy Recommendation 2026”, argued that while India runs the world's third-largest startup ecosystem and has built a wide range of support instruments from the Startup India Seed Fund and the Fund of Funds to the newly approved Rs 1 lakh crore Research, Development and Innovation (RDI) fund, these operate as separate programmes under different ministries, leaving founders to navigate each stage of their journey on their own.


It recommended converging schemes run by DPIIT, DST, the Anusandhan National Research Foundation, MeitY, BIRAC, the MSME ministry and financial institutions onto one digital spine, anchored by a lifelong 'Entrepreneurship Passport' for every founder.

The other proposals included district-level Entrepreneurship Opportunity Maps, a national Idea Bank for aspirants who wish to build a business but do not yet have an idea, an assigned mentor for every publicly funded venture, a multilingual AI co-pilot available to every enrolled entrepreneur, and structured market access through GeM, ONDC and government procurement set-asides.

Citing official data including the PLFS 2023-24 youth unemployment rate of 10.2 per cent and the ILO-IHD India Employment Report 2024 finding that educated youth account for 65.7 per cent of unemployed young Indians, the document positions entrepreneurship as the country's central employment strategy, given the roughly 12 million young people who join the workforce each year, the document said.

It also proposed a flagship role for the Ministry of Education, recommending that entrepreneurship courses culminate in students attempting a real first sale rather than a written examination.

"Every piece of support a founder needs already exists in India, and much of it is world class. What is missing is the wire that connects them and no one carries the founder from one stage to the next," said Shradha Sharma, founder and Chief Executive Officer, The Bharat Project & YourStory Media.

"India built digital public infrastructure that enabled a billion people to transact. The next task is entrepreneurial public infrastructure that enables millions to create," Sharma said.

The recommendation outlined a 15-month implementation roadmap, noting that the Mission requires the convergence of existing funds and programmes rather than significant new expenditure. Its outcomes framework proposes that public support be measured by a single metric: sustainable enterprises created per crore of public expenditure, the document said. PTI