Stressing on the paramount role of start-ups in India achieving its ambitious developmental aspirations, V. Anantha Nageswaran, Chief Economic Advisor to Government of India, said that tier-2 and tier-3 cities of the country, including Kerala’s capital, are emerging as start-up powerhouses leveraging the improvement in infrastructure and government’s supportive policies. He was delivering the leadership talk at the three-day Huddle Global Summit organised by the Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM) here on Saturday.
He also noted that Kerala’s start-up journey has been an inspiring one with KSUM serving as the catalyst since its establishment in 2006 to promote change that propelled the State into the forefront of the global start-up arena. The active participation of start-ups in India in developing business models on the foundation of expanding physical and digital infrastructure will continue to generate efficiency, revenue and economic returns for the country, he said.
“The culture of entrepreneurship and innovation is one pandemic that India would like to experience continuously. It must spread. The last decade has seen an exceptional transformation in the start-up landscape in India, which has emerged as the third largest ecosystem globally, with over 1.12 lakh start-ups presently recognised by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) across 763 districts. Among them, more than 110 are unicorns with a total valuation of around $350 billion,” he said.
