MeitY Commits Necessary Support To Startups: MeitY Secretary

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) is committed to providing all necessary support to startups, particularly growth-stage startups, said Alkesh Kumar Sharma, Secretary of MeitY. 

Addressing MeitY Startup Hub’s (MSH) session, Sharma praised Indian startups for the passion and innovation they are working with. “The innovation and energy of India startups was commendable,” he added. 

In the MSH session, representatives of eight startups updated Sharma and other attendees about the kind of support they require from the central government to upscale their businesses. 

The startups have further shared their impact stories and sought guidance from the ministry. 

Startups including drone startup Gurutvaa Systems, edtech startup Next Skills 360, agritech startup Krishify Farmstock, healthtech startup AyuRhythm, edtech startup KidEx, medtech startup TeraLumen, healthtech startup iMumz, and fintech startup Recur Club took part in the session. 

The MSH is a brainchild of MeitY. It was originally founded to promote innovation, startups and build intellectual properties. It has supported nearly 3000 tech startups to date and further, aims to support over 10,000 startups in the span of three to five years. 

To promote startups and grow its beneficiary network, the MSH has been collaborating with various organisations including, corporates, multinational companies, tech companies, government organisations and semi-government entities. It has also led several cohorts to accelerate the startups’ growth, that included the above-mentioned eight startups as well. 

In the near future, the MSH session is likely to be held in association with the Centre’s deeptech startup platform called Digital India GENESIS. The two bodies will concertedly help upscale startups working in Tier-I and II cities of India.

Digital India GENESIS, which has a corpus of INR 750 Cr, was set up by PM Narendra Modi this year. 

These developments have come at a time when the country has registered over 73K startups to date. These recognised startups, in turn, have given employment to over 7.5 Lakh people, as per figures shared by DPIIT. 

Besides, more than 100 homegrown startups are currently pegged at over $1 Bn and thus, have gained unicorn status. The latest addition to the coveted unicorn club is SaaS-based logistics startup Shiprocket which bagged $33.5 Mn in its Series E2 funding round this month.