Mon Mar 24 10:27:21 UTC 2025: ## Andhra Pradesh Unveils Ambitious Startup Policy Aiming for 20,000 New Ventures

**Vijayawada, March 24, 2025** – The Andhra Pradesh state government launched the AP Innovation & Startup Policy (4.0) 2024-2029 on Monday, aiming to foster a significant growth in the state’s startup ecosystem. The ambitious policy sets a target of creating 20,000 new startups and at least 100,000 jobs over the next five years.

The policy also aims to nurture 20 “Soonicorns” (startups valued at $500 million) and 10 unicorns (startups valued at $1 billion) and establish or expand 10 Centers of Excellence in key areas such as deep tech, blockchain, extended reality (XR), Internet of Things, quantum computing, and advanced manufacturing.

This new policy builds on Andhra Pradesh’s history as an early adopter of startup support, having introduced India’s first Startup and Innovation Policy in 2014. The government cites the state’s consistent leadership in fostering innovation and its recognition as a “leader” in the 2022 State Startup Ranking by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).

While India currently boasts 1.5 lakh DPIIT-recognized startups (a 120% compound annual growth rate since 2015), with nearly half based in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities, Andhra Pradesh already had 6,600 startups by December 2024, 2,400 of which were DPIIT registered. The new policy aims to capitalize on this momentum and address evolving technological and market demands. The previous policy (AP Information Technology Policy 2021-24) expired on September 30, 2024.

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