India ideal for start-ups: Kishan Reddy

HYDERABAD: Union minister Piyush Goyal on Saturday called for the creation of an international network of mentors, investors and entrepreneurs to strengthen the global start-up ecosystem while his Cabinet colleague G. Kishan Reddy said today’s youth wanted to be job creators instead of job-seekers.

They were speaking at the inaugural session of Startup20 — the newest engagement group of G20 India presidency — which began in the city on Saturday with keynote addresses by Kishan Reddy, Piyush Goyal and Som Parkash, who talked up the scenario for start-ups in India.

Saturday was the first day of the two-day event. After the inception meeting in Hyderabad, there will be three track meetings in Sikkim, Andaman and Nicobar and Bengaluru. The summit meeting would be held in Gurugram.

Kishan Reddy said India was the ideal location for the start-up engagement group. “We have close to 85,000 registered start-ups with 100 plus unicorns at a combined valuation of $350 billion,” he said. He invited start-ups to help governments find innovative solutions and new ideas in preserving the rich cultural heritage, and to use new technologies to providing an immersive experience to tourists.

The Startup20 inception meeting aspires to start a series of events to create a global narrative for supporting start-ups and enabling synergies between start-ups, corporates, investors, innovation agencies and other key ecosystem stakeholders. The primary objective is to harmonise the global startup ecosystem through a collaborative and forward-looking approach.

The purpose of this group is to provide a common platform for start-ups from G20 member countries to come together to develop actionable guidance in the form of building of enabler’s capacities, identification of funding gaps, enhancement of employment opportunities, and growth of an inclusive ecosystem.

Addressing the gathering online, commerce minister Goyal said the international network of investors and entrepreneurs must support and inspire start-ups, act as a team to facilitate exchange of ideas, best practices and funding mechanisms and promote collaborations in research and development. Supporting innovation should be the collective responsibility of nations, he said.

He gave the mantra of 'Sense’ — Share, Explore, Nurture, Serve and Empower — for growth of start-ups. “Growing participation from Tier 2 & 3 markets that are swiftly embracing latest technology has pushed the envelope for local start-ups in India,” he pointed out.

India’s G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant, joint secretary of the department of promotion of industry and internal trade Shruti Sinha and Startup20 chair Dr Chintan Vaishnav also spoke at the event. The delegates also visited T-Hub on Saturday where principal secretary, IT, Jayesh Ranjan gave his keynote address.