India is third largest startup nation in world: PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he envisions a place for India in the top 25 of the Global Innovation Index "soon."  

Interacting with students at the Grand Finale of Smart India Hackathon on Saturday, he said, "We are at 57th rank in Global Innovation Index while in 2014 we were at 81, which means we made a jump of 24 ranks in 4 years. We have to reach in top 25 soon."

The Prime Minister also informed that in the present day, India is the third largest startup nation in the world.

"India today is the third largest startup country. In the last 3-4 years, more than 15000 startups have been set up. Majority of the startups that have begun are from small towns," he added.

Taking a jibe at the previous governments, he alleged that before his government came into power, taxpayers were called "thieves."

"Initially taxpayers were called thieves. I changed this perception. Even the utmost respect given to taxpayers is less. It is the taxpayer who builds the country."

A total of 1,373 teams comprising more than 10,500 students are participating in the hackathon across the country to develop coding solutions for problems put forth under several domains by various ministries.The hardware edition of the hackathon would be held in June 2019.