SME Times News Bureau | 15 Apr, 2021
Minister
of Commerce & Industry Piyush Goyal on Thursday chaired the first meeting of
National Startup Advisory Council(NSAC).
Department for
Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) had constituted the National
Startup Advisory Council to advise the Government on measures needed to build a
strong ecosystem for nurturing innovation and startups in the country to drive
sustainable economic growth and generate large scale employment opportunities.
Besides the
ex-officio members, the council has a number of non-official members,
representing various stakeholders such as founders of successful startups,
veterans who have grown and scaled companies in India, persons capable of
representing interest of investors into startups, persons capable of
representing interests of incubators and accelerators, representatives of
associations of stakeholders of startups and representatives of industry
associations.
In his inaugural address, Goyal said that this
council shall act as the guiding light for many budding startup entrepreneurs
in India.
He said that this is the first time in our
nation’s history where such a high-powered team of people from the private
sector and the Government have come together, so that ‘You take your own policy
decisions’.
Appreciating the work done by the startups in all
sectors, for finding innovative solutions to various problems, Goyal said that
India is hub of innovation & out-of-the-box thinking. He said that Startup
movement has stirred entrepreneurial spirit in last 5 years.
“We have witnessed tremendous efforts by
stakeholders right from national to block levels towards the realization of our
Hon’ble PM’s ‘Startup India’ vision'".
Describing the Startups as the New Champions of
Aatmanirbhar Bharat, Shri Goyal said that we have the potential to become
World’s largest and most innovative startup ecosystem.
He said that the Government has and will always
be a supportive partner in charting progress of Indian Startup ecosystem.
Calling for making “Startup India” a symbol of national partnership and
national consciousness, the Minister stressed on the need to sow the seeds of
entrepreneurship at school level to encourage students to innovate.
He also called upon the successful entrepreneurs
to take initiative to share their knowledge, experience, ideas and mentor
students and youth.
He said that there are innovative ideas with
people in rural India, and Tier II and Tier III towns, waiting to be harnessed.
The Minister said that it is our collective
responsibility to realise the objectives of ‘Startup India: The Way Ahead’,
which was launched by the Prime Minister in January this year.
He said that this will help India reach a stage,
where countries around the world would look to model their own startup
ecosystems based on India’s achievements and will take ‘StartUp India’ to the
Global Stage.
The minister said that the Government is ready to
act as an ‘Enabler rather than Regulator’.
He said that collectively, we have to maximise
our efforts to minimise the problems & make sure that India’s
cost-effective solutions are made available to serve the needs of the poorest.