Startup India DPIIT Recognition

Startup India / DPIIT recognition is currently governed by the revised framework notified under G.S.R. 108(E), dated 4 February 2026, which replaced the 2019 recognition criteria.

An entity is eligible if it is a Private Limited Company (Companies Act, 2013), a Limited Liability Partnership (LLP Act, 2008), a registered partnership firm (Indian Partnership Act, 1932), or a cooperative society, and it: (a) has not completed 10 years from the date of incorporation or registration (extended to 20 years for entities recognised in the Deep Tech category); and (b) has not had annual turnover exceeding ₹200 crore in any financial year since incorporation (₹300 crore for Deep Tech). A sole proprietorship is not an eligible entity type. Recognition is granted free of charge through the Startup India portal / National Single Window System, typically within 2–10 working days of a complete application.

Because DPIIT recognition carries no government fee, it should be positioned to clients as an advisory-fee-only engagement — helping structure the application, entity documentation, and Deep Tech classification where relevant — rather than priced as if a statutory filing fee is involved, consistent with how we treat Udyam registration.

This 4 February 2026 notification is a recent regulatory revision. Given its recency, we treat the eligibility framework above as confirmed (it is consistently and independently corroborated across multiple professional sources, including specialist law firms), but we verify the exact gazette text against the DPIIT/Startup India portal before quoting specific figures in binding client communication, and will revisit this note if the notification is further amended.

Startup India DPIIT recognition is the certification of an entity as a startup under the Startup India initiative — the recognition granted by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) under the Startup India Policy, for the entities that meet the prescribed criteria of the age, the turnover and the innovation. The recognition unlocks the benefits the policy and the law provide — the income tax exemption under Section 80-IAC of the Income-tax Act 1961 for the eligible startups, the exemption from the angel tax under Section 56(2)(viib) where the conditions are met, the self-certification under the labour laws, and the access to the startup ecosystem's programs.

The DPIIT recognition is the startup's passport to the ecosystem's benefits — the 80-IAC exemption on the three out of the ten years' profits, the capital gains and the other tax concessions, the government procurement advantages, and the access to the funding and the support programs. The recognition is applied for online on the Startup India portal with the entity details and the innovation documentation, and it must be maintained against the conditions the policy prescribes.

The cost of the missing recognition is the missed benefit: the profits taxed that the 80-IAC would have exempted, the funding that the angel tax exemption would have protected, the schemes that the startup could not access.

This service is for startups seeking the DPIIT recognition. We assess the eligibility under the Startup India criteria, prepare and file the recognition application with the entity and the innovation details, obtain the recognition, and structure the benefits — the 80-IAC exemption, the angel tax position — so the startup carries the recognition and its advantages.