{"id":39,"date":"2025-09-06T11:57:01","date_gmt":"2025-09-06T10:57:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/odrindia.in\/startups\/?p=39"},"modified":"2025-09-06T11:57:01","modified_gmt":"2025-09-06T10:57:01","slug":"startups-actually-doing-business-ensuring-statutory-compliance-and-filing-returns-in-india-since-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/odrindia.in\/startups\/2025\/09\/06\/startups-actually-doing-business-ensuring-statutory-compliance-and-filing-returns-in-india-since-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Startups Actually Doing Business, Ensuring Statutory Compliance, And Filing Returns In India Since 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" src=\"https:\/\/odrindia.in\/startups\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/61.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-40\" srcset=\"https:\/\/odrindia.in\/startups\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/61.jpg 640w, https:\/\/odrindia.in\/startups\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/61-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/odrindia.in\/startups\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/61-450x300.jpg 450w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"text-align:justify;\">Narratives and political lies are totally different from ground realities and this applies aptly to startup community of India. On paper, we may have more than a lakh startups, but in reality we have very few startups that have actually survived their journey from 2019 to September 2025. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"text-align:justify;\">Obviously, statutory compliance and filing of tax return is a rarity in Indian startup culture than the norm. This is more so with bootstrapped startups that have been abandoned by our govt and who have very little incentive to spend more on useless statutory compliance and tax return formalities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>See Also<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"text-align:justify;\"><strong>(1) Startups Journey In India From 2019 To September 2025<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-sovereign-p-4-lo-startups-the-global-dashboard-for-startups-of-p-4-lo wp-block-embed-sovereign-p-4-lo-startups-the-global-dashboard-for-startups-of-p-4-lo\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"b1ZOWXo1eY\"><a href=\"https:\/\/odrindia.in\/startups\/2025\/09\/05\/startups-journey-in-india-from-2019-to-september-2025\/\">Startups Journey In India From 2019 To September 2025<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"&#8220;Startups Journey In India From 2019 To September 2025&#8221; &#8212; Sovereign P4LO Startups: The Global Dashboard For Startups Of P4LO\" src=\"https:\/\/odrindia.in\/startups\/2025\/09\/05\/startups-journey-in-india-from-2019-to-september-2025\/embed\/#?secret=R4I5CG7OxZ#?secret=b1ZOWXo1eY\" data-secret=\"b1ZOWXo1eY\" width=\"584\" height=\"329\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"text-align:justify;\"><strong>(2) Survival Of Bootstrapped Startups In India Since 2019 Till September 2025<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-sovereign-p-4-lo-startups-the-global-dashboard-for-startups-of-p-4-lo wp-block-embed-sovereign-p-4-lo-startups-the-global-dashboard-for-startups-of-p-4-lo\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"oXs04USQYQ\"><a href=\"https:\/\/odrindia.in\/startups\/2025\/09\/05\/survival-of-bootstrapped-startups-in-india-since-2019-till-september-2025\/\">Survival Of Bootstrapped Startups In India Since 2019 Till September 2025<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"&#8220;Survival Of Bootstrapped Startups In India Since 2019 Till September 2025&#8221; &#8212; Sovereign P4LO Startups: The Global Dashboard For Startups Of P4LO\" src=\"https:\/\/odrindia.in\/startups\/2025\/09\/05\/survival-of-bootstrapped-startups-in-india-since-2019-till-september-2025\/embed\/#?secret=6HvM7gys00#?secret=oXs04USQYQ\" data-secret=\"oXs04USQYQ\" width=\"584\" height=\"329\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"text-align:justify;\">As of September 2025, approximately <strong>6.4%<\/strong> of Indian startups have received funding from any source (primarily venture capital, private equity, angel investments, or government grants). Historical trends show consistent low funding rates; for example, a 2023 report indicated only 6% of startups were funded up to 2020. While funding activity peaked in 2021, the overall percentage has remained in a similar range through 2025 due to the rapid growth in the total number of startups. <strong>So, 93% of startups remain unfunded due to bootstrapping, regulatory hurdles, and investor caution post-2022 and till September 2025. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Startups Surviving From 2019 To 2025<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"text-align:justify;\">The number of survived Indian startups founded since 2019 that are actively doing business (i.e., operational and not dormant) and complying with statutory requirements (e.g., filing MCA annual returns, GST, income tax) as of September 2025 is challenging to pinpoint exactly, as there is no single source tracking all startups with this level of detail. DPIIT-recognised startups cannot serve as the best proxy, since DPIIT is biased and working to maintain a positive and flourishing outlook for Indian startups. Tracxn data provides a complementary view but is more focused on funded or tech startups and under counts total activity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Key Estimates<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"text-align:justify;\">(a) Total DPIIT-recognised startups (all since 2016, but 90%+ founded since 2019 per growth trends): 180,683 as of July 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"text-align:justify;\">(b) Shut down: 6,019 (these are de-recognised or ceased operations, implying non-active\/non-compliant).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"text-align:justify;\">(c) Active and compliant: ~174,664 (total recognized minus shut down). For those founded since 2019 specifically: ~165,000\u2013168,000 (adjusting for pre-2019 cohort of ~10,000\u201312,000).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"text-align:justify;\">(d) Using Tracxn (more conservative, focuses on broader founded companies but higher closure estimates): ~53,000\u201366,000 active survived from 2019 cohort, with compliance implied for survivors as non-filers risk strike-off under MCA rules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><thead><tr><th>Metric<\/th><th>DPIIT Estimate (Since 2019 Cohort)<\/th><th>Tracxn Estimate (Since 2019 Cohort)<\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td>Total Founded<\/td><td>~174,000<\/td><td>~97,000<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Survived\/Active<\/td><td>~165,000\u2013168,000<\/td><td>~53,000\u201366,000<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Active &amp; Compliant<\/td><td>~165,000\u2013168,000 (assumed for recognized active)<\/td><td>~53,000\u201366,000 (assumed for survived)<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Notes On Activity And Compliance<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"text-align:justify;\"><strong>(a) Active (Doing Business)<\/strong>: DPIIT shut-down figure (6,019) accounts for ceased\/dormant entities. MCA data shows only ~2,500 dormant companies total across all India (not startup-specific), so most survived startups are active. Startups can be struck off if dormant\/non-filing for 2+ years, but active status does not imply an ongoing business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"text-align:justify;\"><strong>(b)<\/strong> <strong>Statutory Compliance\/Filing Returns<\/strong>: No direct stats on filing rates for startups, but MCA requires annual filings (e.g., MGT-7, AOC-4) to avoid penalties or strike-off. Recognised startups can self-certify compliance for certain laws, and only ~2% pursue advanced tax exemptions requiring strict audits, suggesting variable compliance but high for active ones. Overall MCA active companies (1.82 million total) are ~65% of registered, but for recent incorporations like startups, the rate is higher (~80\u201390%) due to less time for non-compliance buildup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"text-align:justify;\">DPIIT figures are recommended as the primary estimate, as they specifically track startups and align with government definitions. Actual numbers may be higher if including unrecognised startups, but compliance data is sparse beyond this.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Narratives and political lies are totally different from ground realities and this applies aptly to startup community of India. On paper, we may have more than a lakh startups, but in reality we have very few startups that have actually &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/odrindia.in\/startups\/2025\/09\/06\/startups-actually-doing-business-ensuring-statutory-compliance-and-filing-returns-in-india-since-2019\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-p4lo-startups"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/odrindia.in\/startups\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/odrindia.in\/startups\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/odrindia.in\/startups\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/odrindia.in\/startups\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/odrindia.in\/startups\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/odrindia.in\/startups\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47,"href":"https:\/\/odrindia.in\/startups\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39\/revisions\/47"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/odrindia.in\/startups\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/odrindia.in\/startups\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/odrindia.in\/startups\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}