New Delhi, Jan 13 (IANS): Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal, on Wednesday called upon startups to help micro-entrepreneurs in rural areas leverage technology to grow their businesses and encourage farmers, weavers and artisans to use digital platforms to sell their products.

"Startups will help India's transition from an assembly economy, particularly in the digital world, to a knowledge-based economy," Goyal said while virtually addressing the 16th India Digital Summit 2022 here on Wednesday.

"It has been six years since the Startup India Mission was launched. In these six years, we have already produced 82 Unicorns, the third largest in the world, while over 60,000 startups are registered with the DPIIT.

"With the growing recognition of our skilled people across the world, investors are queuing up from around the globe to come and participate in the revolution that we are witnessing in the startup ecosystem. From 2018-21, more than six lakh Jobs were created by our startups. In the last year alone, more than two lakh jobs were created," Goyal said.

The minister on the occasion unveiled ‘LEAP' -- Leverage, Encourage, Access and Promote -- as the way forward for startups

"There is always room for improvement and with ‘Sabka Prayas', we can strengthen our startup ecosystem further," he said.