New Delhi [India], January 15 (ANI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said that India's Global Innovation Index ranking has improved from 81 in 2015 to 46 now.

"The campaign that is going on in India regarding innovation has the effect that India's ranking in the Global Innovation Index has improved a lot. In 2015, India was at number 81 in this ranking. Now, India is at number 46 in the Innovation Index," the Prime Minster said in his virtual interaction with startups.

The Prime Minister also said that India has more than 1,000 universities, over 11,000 stand alone institutions, over 42,000 colleges and lakhs of schools.

"These are our strengthens and we have to capitalise them. We must encourage our youth to innovate," he added.

PM Modi also said, "With over 9,000 Atal Tinkering Labs and thousands of Hackathons, we are encouraging our youth to solve today's problems with innovation and technology.""India is constantly learning and innovating," the Prime Minister added. (ANI)