New Delhi: Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Textiles Piyush Goyal on Monday called upon stakeholders in the innovation ecosystem to strive to take India to the top 25 in the Global Innovation Index. “Our startups are the key reason behind India’s meteoric rise in Global Innovation Index from 76 in 2014 to 46 in 2021,” he said, while inaugurating ‘Startup India Innovation Week Launch’ virtually.
Expressing his delight at being able to participate in the first ever Startup Innovation launch week, Goyal said that ‘Celebrating Innovation Ecosystem’ as a part of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav was also a call to action for all of us to strengthen our startup ecosystem further.
The Minister spoke of the need for institutionalizing the Startup Week Celebrations as an annual event so that we keep reviewing, reinventing, rejuvenating and reenergizing our startup ecosystem. He said that there is a need for developing a futuristic outlook to pave the roadmap of the future while we celebrate our entrepreneurs.
The startup and innovation festival's primary goal is to bring together the country's key startups, entrepreneurs, investors, incubators, funding entities, banks, policymakers, and other national and international stakeholders to celebrate entrepreneurship and promote innovation.
Furthermore, to exchange knowledge on nurturing startup ecosystems; to develop entrepreneurial ecosystem capacities; to mobilize global and domestic capital for startup investments; to encourage and inspire the youth for innovation and entrepreneurship; to provide market access opportunities to startups; and to showcase high-quality, high-technology, and frugal innovations from India.
Terming the startups as the harbingers of change, the Minister said that our startups have changed the mind-set from ‘Can Do’ to ‘Will Do.’ Startup India, which started as a mission to promote innovation has today become a revolution of national participation and national consciousness, he observed.
Expressing confidence that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s interaction with startups on the completion of six years of Startup India will encourage our entrepreneurs to dream big and achieve bigger, Goyal said that our Startups turned Covid-19 crises into an opportunity and made 2021 the year of unicorns, with third largest number of unicorns – 82 – in the world.
The Minister observed that our young entrepreneurs are eager to make an extreme impact and are fearless risk takers. He noted that today, almost four startups are recognised in India every hour with 45 per cent belonging to Tier II and III cities and said that 46 per cent of Startups are founded by women entrepreneurs.
Goyal highlighted that the success of IPOs of many startups showcase their power to become the new Multi-National Corporations. He said that from 2018-21, more than six lakh jobs have been created by Startups and added that in 2021 alone, more than two lakh jobs have been created.
Listing some measure taken by the Government to improve Ease of Doing Business, he said that there was an 80 per cent rebate on patent filing and 50 per cent on trademark filing fees, relaxation in public procurement norms, self-certification under Labour and Environmental Laws, Funds of Funds for Startups, Income Tax exemption for three out of 10 years and Seed Fund Scheme of Rs 945 crore, and an improved IPR regime have resulted in the registration of 1.16 million trademarks in the last four years as compared to 1.1 million registrations in last 75 years, he added. /BI/
