Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath Sets Up $156.2 Mn Startup Fund

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has set up a $156.2 Mn (1000 Cr) startup fund for helping startups in the state. He flagged off a “Startup Bus Yatra” in Lucknow and made a strong pitch for startups.

Talking about the move, he said, “We have created a corpus of $156.2 Mn (INR 1,000 Cr) to encourage startup schemes… we will sign a MoU with SIDBI by September 15 for this purpose.”

CM Yogi Adityanath further added that the state has immense possibilities. He said, “I believe if Uttar Pradesh takes an initiative in this direction, the country will march ahead.” Apart from this, he further added that the government has also started a website for startups in the state. The Uttar Pradesh government has also set up a call centre to address any issues concerning the initiative.

Very soon the government will launch a dedicated mobile app for startups in the state. He further added, “The government is also going to start a dedicated mobile application for startups… the solution to all the problems will be found.”

The state is also looking to promote entrepreneurship at educational institutes. For the same, CM Yogi Adityanath said that the state will give about $39K (INR 25 Lakhs) to universities and leading educational institutions, in order to encourage students to take up self-employment through startup projects.

The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, at the inauguration of the first ‘rozgar summit‘ said that the state will look to create 7 Mn jobs in the next five years via government schemes.

Apart from this, the UP government has linked agriculture with employment and identified certain districts for their unique products. For instance, it has decided to promote carpet industry in Bhadohi, lock industry in Aligarh, brass industry in Moradabad and saree industry in Varanasi to boost employment.

Apart from the centre-driven initiatives like ‘Startup India, Stand Up India’, various states are working to propel the startup movement within their territories. In January 2017, Gujarat introduced India’s first Student Startup and Innovation Policy. As part of the initiative, a startup fund, State Innovation Fund with a corpus of $29.3 Mn (INR 200 Cr) will be provided to the students during the next five years.

Later in March 2017, the Government of Bihar had enforced a new policy in place – the Bihar Startup Policy 2017 and set up a startup fund as a trust, with an initial corpus of $76 Mn (INR 500 Cr), to act as the nodal agency for implementation of this policy.

With the recent slew of schemes and propositions to support startups in the state of Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is looking to provide helping hand to the MSMEs in the state. Will the initiatives put Uttar Pradesh on the national startup map remains to be seen.

(The development was reported by MoneyControl)