India is planning to organise a meet of start-ups of the South Asian region for exchange of new ideas and promoting interaction among them.

Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also sought views of Indian start-ups to hold this programme.

“I will be working towards having a SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) country meet for startups. There are so many complementarities among us in the South Asian region,” said, Sitharaman while launching a Startup India hub portal here.

The event can act as a platform for exchanging of ideas which can be mutually beneficial and can be worked out, she further added.

Sitharaman asked start-ups to give ideas about the people who can be invited for the meet.

If the Ministry would get feedbacks and suggestions in the next couple of months, by December the meet can happen in which SAARC country start-ups can come to India and share ideas.

The SAARC members include Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Maldives, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Further, to promote the start-up ecosystem in the country, Sitharaman would write to all the Members of Parliaments to help budding entrepreneurs.

Citing an example, the minister said that she used her Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) fund to create a co-working space for start-ups in Mangalore.

“I will write to all the MPs…(particularly) in districts where people are approaching their MPs saying can we have some space and where there is a demand of startups,” said Sitharaman.

The ministry is also planning to work in certain districts identify schools and help them qualify to get tinkering labs under the Atal Innovation Mission.

She added that the Ministry is working on modalities to facilitate exchange of ideas between start-ups of India and Germany.

Source: Times of  India