Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday inaugurated the silver jubilee edition of the Bengaluru Tech Summit via a pre-recorded message and hailed the country's talent pool and tech advancements. He said, "We are using our talent pool for global good" and added that India's talent pool has helped the country jump to 40th position on the Global Innovation Index.

India was earlier ranked 81 in 2015 on the Global Innovation Index. Praising India's booming startup ecosystem, PM Modi said that the number of startups has doubled since 2021 and it is the third largest startup nation in the world.

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According to data released by the Economic Survey 2021-22, India has the third largest ecosystem in the world, just after the US and China.

The poll also revealed that, compared to 733 in 2016–17, the government recognised almost 14,000 new startups in 2021–22. As of January 14, 2022, India's total number of officially recognised startups has surpassed 61,400. The Economic Survey showed that in 2021, 555 districts had at least one new startup, compared to 121 districts in 2016–17.

PM Modi added that in the last eight years, broadband connections rose from 60 million to 810 million, and smartphone users increased from 150 million to 750 million. The growth of internet connectivity has been faster in rural areas.

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"India has shown how to democratise technology and give tech a human touch," he said.

According to a Deloitte report, India had 1.2 billion mobile subscribers in 2021, of which about 750 million are smartphone users. The same is expected to reach 1 billion smartphone users by 2026, with rural areas driving the sale of internet-enabled phones, as per the Deloitte report.

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