The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has virtually organised the 1st-ever ‘Startup India Innovation Week’ from 10th -16th of January 2022, to commemorate the 75th year of India’s independence ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’ and showcase the spread and depth of entrepreneurship across India.
Union Minister for Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal launched the “Startup India Innovation Week”.
- Objective: To bring together India’s key startups, entrepreneurs, investors, incubators, funding entities, banks, policymakers, and other national/international stakeholders to celebrate entrepreneurship and promote innovation.
- 2021 has been recognised as the ‘year of unicorns,‘ with more than 40 unicorns added in the same year.
-Indian Bank and IIMK LIVE Signed MoU to Provide Credit Assistance to Start-ups
i.As part of the Start-up India Innovation Week, Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode’s (IIMK) business incubator, Laboratory for Innovation Venturing and Entrepreneurship (LIVE), and Indian Bank has signed an MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) to launch a start-up funding scheme ‘IndSpring Board’ to support early-stage start-ups with loans up to Rs 50 crore.
ii.The loans obtained through the scheme could be used to meet start-ups’ operational expenditure and capital expenditure which includes working capital, purchase of fixed assets, and other expenses.
iii.The MoU was signed by Rajesh Srinivas Upadhyayula, Executive Director, IIMK LIVE and B. Vijaya, Zonal Manager, Indian Bank, Kozhikode Zone in the presence of Professor Debashis Chatterjee, Director IIMK and Chairman IIMK LIVE.
– National Startup Awards (NSA) 2021
i.The Union Minister of Commerce & Industry Piyush Goyal presented the NSA 2021 (the 2nd edition). Around 46 Startups have been recognized as winners of NSA 2021 along with 1 incubator and 1 accelerator. Click here to know the list of awardees
ii.The NSA 2021 received applications across 15 sectors and 49 sub-sectors. The sectors include Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, Drinking Water, Education & Skill Development, Energy, Environment, Food Processing, Security, Travel, etc.
iii.The NSA 2021 also recognized Startups that are innovating solutions to promote Indic languages and to complement national efforts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
iv.The Pune-based Ratan Tata-backed startup, Repos was awarded the National Startup Award 2021 in the Energy distribution category for their door-to-door delivery of fuel.
v.An e-Report on NSA 2021 was released highlighting the year-round handholding support provided to the finalists of the 1st edition of NSA and the journey of NSA 2021.
vi.The ‘Blockchain-enabled verification for DPIIT tax incentive certificates’, ‘Digilocker enabled DPIIT Startup recognition certificate’ and the second edition of the ‘Startup Champions’ programme on Doordarshan was also launched in the event.
Startup Day: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has declared that January 16 will be celebrated as National Start-up Day, to spread the culture of startups in every part of India.
- Startup India was launched on January 16, 2016, and in 2022 the date marks the first-ever National Startup Day.
-Fisheries Startup Grand Challenge
i.The Department of Fisheries in association with Startup India, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, inaugurated the ‘Fisheries Startup Grand Challenge’ to provide a platform for the start-ups to showcase their innovative solutions within the Fisheries and Aquaculture sector.
ii.The programme also intends to increase aquaculture productivity from the current national average of 3 tons to 5 tons per hectare, doubling exports earnings and reducing post-harvest losses from 25 percent to 10 percent.
iii.The Department of Fisheries has earmarked funds of Rs 3.44 Crore for the challenge.
Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC): DPIIT has initiated the ONDC project to promote open networks developed on open-sourced methodology, using open specifications and open network protocols independent of any specific platform. The task has been assigned to the Quality Council of India (QCI).
About India’s Startup:
i.India is emerging as a global innovation hub, being the world’s 3rd-largest startup ecosystem.
ii.So far, DPIIT has recognised more than 61,000 startups, representing 55 industries, spread across 633 districts with at least one startup from every State and Union Territory of the country have created over 6 lakh jobs since 2016.
iii.Around 45 percent of the startups are from Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities and 45 percent of them are represented by women entrepreneurs.
Recent Related News:
As per the annual ranking of the international startup hubs named ‘Global Startup Ecosystem Report 2021’, compiled by research organisation ‘Startup Genome’ and The Global Entrepreneurship Network, London, Mumbai, and Bangalore are featured among the world’s top startup hubs.
Bangalore ranked 23rd (26 in 2020) among the top 30 global startups, whereas Delhi ranked 36.
About Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT):
Establishment – 1995
Headquarters – New Delhi, Delhi
Private Secretary – Ravi Jha
