President Pranab Mukherjee said it was not easy to launch a new start-up in the country owing to issues related to funding and others, despite India having a “large eco-system” for such maiden ventures.
There is a need to provide “a facilitative environment to India’s youth to give wings to their imagination and take forward new ideas,” he said while urging the investors to take risk to nurture innovative ideas.
“In India, we have a large eco-system of 4,500 start-ups – the third largest in the world. Even then, it is not easy to start a new venture in India. Access to funding and mentorship remains a hurdle,” Mukherjee said while speaking at Pitch@RB.
The support in this case means fine-tuning of ideas, company registration, easy access to funding, or finding a mentor, he said.
Pitch@Rashtrapati Bhavan was organised by the Rashtrapati Bhavan in partnership with the CII.
Acknowledging that investors are often shy to fund innovation start-ups as they are not sure of their success, the President said that investors must have an eye for sifting the good ideas from the ordinary ones.
“But one must understand that even though nine out of ten ventures that an investor may fund, may fail; still, the one venture that will succeed, will make good the loss incurred on the rest. Such are the rules of the game,” he said.
He said they must have the risk taking ability and appetite to nurture innovative ideas into successful products and services.
Mukherjee, who has earlier served as Finance Minister also, said it’s pertinent that India adopt a focused strategy to support the new, talented, curious and creative minds for pursuing the innovative solutions to the present-day challenges.
Entrepreneurship coupled with the zeal to solve contemporary challenges, through innovative ideas and solutions, is one of the key pathways leading to socio-economic progress, he underlined.
“I am sure the investment community is up to the task to match the ingenuity and enterprise of our young innovators,” he added.
Source: The Times of India
