Startup recognition criteria revised: turnover limit raised to Rs 200 crore and a Deep Tech Startup category created

DPIIT notification G.S.R. 108(E) dated 4 February 2026 supersedes the 2019 startup definition notification (G.S.R. 127(E) of 19 February 2019). An entity qualifies as a startup if it is a private limited company, a registered partnership firm, an LLP, a Multi-State Cooperative Society or a State or UT registered cooperative society, is within ten years of incorporation or registration, and has turnover in any financial year since incorporation not exceeding two hundred crore rupees. For an entity recognised as a 'Deep Tech Startup', the age limit is twenty years and the turnover limit three hundred crore rupees. An entity formed by splitting up or reconstruction of an existing business is excluded. Cooperative societies are newly eligible.

Deep Tech attributes are to be determined under a framework and guidelines issued separately by DPIIT. The previous turnover ceiling was Rs 100 crore, so a set of companies that had aged out on turnover are eligible again.

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