• The two day ‘Prarambh’, Startup India International Summit began in New Delhi with members of BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) countries participating in the inaugural event.

    • The Summit is being organized by Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, M/o Commerce & Industry, as a follow up of the announcement made by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi at the 4th BIMSTEC Summit held in Kathmandu in August, 2018.

    • Prarambh is expected to bring together top policy makers, industry, academia, investors, startups and all stakeholders from across the globe. In addition to deliberating on good practices from best of the ecosystems across the world, the sessions of the Summit are designed to showcase the spread and depth of entrepreneurship based on innovation in India.

    • The idea is to attain attention of global capital for startups in India, mobilize domestic capital, provide opportunities for accessing international markets to our startups and evolve enabling policy provisions.

    • Declaring the Summit open, the Minister said that the Summit is a demonstration of neighbourhood first policy which will booster partnership among the member countries. 

    • The expectation is that the partnership among the BIMSTEC countries in the sector will take startups to the forefront of new India, new world, new neighbourhood in the new normal. 

    • Growing beyond Government to Government and business to business collaborations, this Summit will ensure startup to startup collaboration, with exchange of ideas and young minds working together collectively to solve problems and assuring prosperity and growth in the region.

    • India has over 41,000 startups registered with the Government but there are many more who are working at the grassroots level.

    • With participation from over 25 countries and more than 200 global speakers, the Summit is the largest Startup India International Summit organized by the Government of India since the launch of the Startup India Initiative in 2016.

    • The Summit is having 24 sessions with focus on enhancing multilateral cooperation and engagement with the countries from around the global to collectively develop and strengthen the Startup ecosystem.

(The author is a trainer for Civil Services aspirants. The views expressed here are personal.)