Addressing a ‘Startup Leaders Meet’ organized by FICCI in association with TiE Silicon Valley, United States, there was a need to create an ecosystem for startups where knowledge workers could be converted to knowledge entrepreneurs. The business delegation from TiE Silicon Valley was visiting India to explore the opportunities for Start-up, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, at the right time as India was on the verge of unveiling its policy to encourage startups and the experience sharing by the delegation would immensely help the budding Indian entrepreneurs, H K Mittal, Adviser, Member Secretary, National Science & Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (NSTEDB), Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology said. He was also very optimistic about the new startup policy to be announced on 16 January 2016 by the Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi.
The present regulatory framework in India did not offer much scope for entrepreneurship. However, it was expected that the proposed policy would provide access to capital and a complementary IPR regime, which would allow entrepreneurs to grow and prosper, George Sibley, Minister-Counselor for EEST (Economy, Environment, Science & Technology), U.S. Embassy, said.
He also further added that in the US, failure was accepted but Indian entrepreneurs were brave as they were taking huge risks in the face of adverse situations. The present Indian Government understood the importance of entrepreneurship for job creation and with the new bankruptcy law was already enabling startups to come up in big numbers.
It was an exciting time for modern India as the government had recognized the role of startups in building the nation. There was a huge domestic market to be explored and by engaging their minds, the Indian entrepreneurs could also harness opportunities in the international arena, Saurabh Srivastava, Co-founder and past Chairman of NASSCOM, NASSCOM Foundation and the Indian Venture Capital Association, Chairman Emeritus of TIE Delhi-NCR & National Executive Committee, FICCl, said.
The other eminent leaders, Venktesh Shukla, President, TiE Silicon Valley; Ullas Kamath, Joint Managing Director Jyothy Laboratories Limited; Yogesh Andlay, Co-founder – Nucleus Software and Polaris Financial Technology; Pratyus Patnaik, Founder, Pratyus-Pixels Photography; Kanwal Rekhi, MD RAND Corporation, Center for Asia Pacific Policy, Imventus Capital Partners, SIEPR; Nimish Mehta, CEO and Co-founder, Lumen Data; Dr. A Didar Singh, Secretary General, FICCI and Nirankar Saxena, Senior Director, FICCI opined that the new policy would enable the entrepreneurs to scale up; recruit and retain talent; deal with the government with ease both on service and regulatory levels; build a brand and good reputation; and raise appropriate funding.
