Startup Mahakumbh: Leaders from public-private sector gather to promote startups

The agenda of the three-day startup event will include discussing challenges and opportunities of building startups in India

By Fazal Rahim Forbes India Staff

Published: Mar 19, 2024 02:31:57 PM IST

Updated: Mar 19, 2024 03:32:04 PM IST

Full Bio

Startup Mahakumbh encapsulated the government’s strategy of public-private partnership as it is backed by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) and industry stakeholders Image: Shutterstock

Startup Mahakumbh, a three-day long startup event, kicked off on Monday at Bharat Mandapam in Delhi. The first-of-its-kind event brings together startups, investors, incubators, accelerators, and leaders on a single platform. Over 1,000 startups, 500 incubators, 1,000 investors, 5,000 delegates, and over 40,000 visitors are expected to attend the event.

Rajesh Kumar Singh, secretary, DPIIT, ministry of commerce and industry, delivered the inaugural speech at the event, while Amitabh Kant, G20 Sherpa, and former CEO, NITI Aayog, shared the journey of Startup India and the vision of the government for the promotion of startups in the country in the next decade.

Kumar said that Startup Mahakumbh encapsulated the government’s strategy of public-private partnership as it is backed by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) and industry stakeholders. He also highlighted that the deep tech startup policy is at the final stage and will be rolled out very soon. “The policy paper is now in the final stages of inter-ministerial discussion. We hope to bring it forward soon. We will move towards creating funds of funds. Hopefully, you will see a separate window for deep tech startups,” Kumar said.

Sharing the journey and vision of Startup India, Kant said that in the last eight years India has created the third largest startup ecosystem in the world with over 1,12,000 startups, and the combined value of 115 unicorns in India exceeds $350 billion in value today. He said that the number of incubators in the past eight years had increased from 4-5 in 2016 to about 400 today. “Young startups are disrupting the system and aggressively pushing things, and therefore my belief is that these startups are all national assets… the challenge for India is how do we make India the number one nation of startups in the world in the next five years,” Kant said at the event.

Also read: Can Indian startups take an Uber ride?

The launch event was attended by leaders in the startup industry, including Sanjeev Bikhchandani, co-founder and executive vice chairman of Info Edge, Deepinder Goyal, founder and CEO of Zomato, Rajan Navani, founder and CEO, JetSynthesys, Sanjay Nayar, senior vice president, ASSOCHAM, and founder and chairman Sorin Investment Fund, Abhiraj Singh Bhal, co-founder of Urban Company, Falguni Nayyar, MD and CEO, Nykaa, Piyush Bansal, co-founder and CEO, Lenskart, and more, where they discussed the challenges and opportunities in building startups in India.

“Thirteen to 15 percent of GDP growth today is coming from startups. Twenty to 25 percent of all jobs created outside the agriculture sector can be attributed back, directly or indirectly, to startups. This is a very meaningful and tangible impact that has already started to happen in a very short duration. If we just play this out again for the next decade or two, the contribution to GDP and good job creation will only keep expanding,” Bhal of Urban Company said at the panel discussion.

Nayar of Sorin Investment Fund said that institutionalising startups from early on is crucial for them to survive in the long run. “Having the right board and governance, right practices and cultural values will matter more than valuation,” he added.