Mangaluru Startup Incubation Centre To Get $183K From Nirmala Sitharaman

Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Nirmala Sitharaman fund the startup incubation centre to be set up in Mangaluru. As per recent reports, the minister will be contributing $183K (INR 1.18 Cr) from her Member of Parliament Local Area Development fund, for the incubation centre.

In a recent visit to the city, Sitharaman had stated that steps have been taken to set up innovation hubs in Karnataka. The location of these hubs are NIT Karnataka in Manguluru and Nitte Mahalinga Adyanthaya Memorial Institute of Technology in Udupi district. These hubs have been set up with the participation of NITI Aayog.

The Dakshina Kannada district administration and the Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) are planning to set up the proposed incubation centre to encourage a startup ecosystem in Mangaluru.

Jeevan Saldanha, President, Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), said that an incubation centre or a coworking space was requested by startups in the area.

The report further suggests that the KCCI and the district administration have identified a 6,000 sq. ft. area for the same. It is said that the centre will have ‘around 70 seats and will accommodate 15-20 startups.’

Saldanha further added that the incubation centre will provide mentoring from NASSCOM. Currently, more than 150 IT and IT-enabled services firms are situated in and around Mangaluru.

In May 2017, the Karnataka government launched the Elevate Programme. As a part of this programme, the state government is looking to reach out and aid around 1,000 startups from small cities and towns over the next two months. For the programme, the state would be setting up camps in Mangaluru, Mysuru, Hubballi, and Bengaluru.

(The development was reported by The Hindu)