The Minister for Commerce & Industry, Textiles, Consumer Affairs and Food & Public Distribution, Piyush Goyal, on Sunday, December 12, 2021, said that the ministry is encouraging 46 percent of start-ups registered with DPIIT have women as part of ecosystem. He hoped that women will lead the start-up culture in Maharashtra.
Adding further, he said that the country has a startup ecosystem across length and breadth of India. Today, more than 50,000 start-ups have been registered in India and with this it is considered the third largest ecosystem in world. He also said that as per DPIIT registrations, Pune has a total of 3,200 start-ups whereas Mumbai 3,274 start-ups, and this implies that there is a healthy competition between Pune and Mumbai which should continue.
Recalling the contribution of social reformer and educationist Savitribal Phule, he said that that she had started first girls school in Pune, so it is befitting that women entrepreneurs showcase their work in this Science Technology Park in Pune. Comparing Incubators with parents, Minister Goyal added that they are like guide and supporter that start-ups need.
Pune has a unique position to support start-ups due to presence of industry, IT and finest academic institutions, and with this, he added that it is time to increase international collaboration in start-up ecosystem. Minister Goyal also emphasised the need for collaboration of academia, industry and research for thriving of start-ups. He informed that it is heartening to note that out of 79 unicorns in India, four are from Pune. Moreover, the Sci-Tech Park in Pune University has 153 start ups.
Noting that some of the innovations showcased in today’s Science and Technology Park for Divyang people were exciting, he hoped to see more innovations for farmers, divyang and poor.
Stressing that government involvement always stifles industries’ progress, Minister Goyal gave example of decades of sixties and seventies when industrial progress was hampered due to government interventions. He went on to add that no Unicorn today would have reached this position solely based on government support and that the way forward can only be in a way where architecture of start-ups is drawn by entrepreneurs while government will only provide support in the form of facilitator.
However some initiatives like Covaxin are good example of government and industry collaboration, he noted, and concluded that India may have billion problems but it also has brilliant billion entrepreneurs to solve these problems with extremely cost effective solutions.
The event was also attended by Vice Chancellor of Pune University Nitin Karmalkar, Prashant Girbane, of Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture, and Manisha Verma, Principal Secretary, Skill Development - Employment and Entreprenurship Department, Government of Maharashtra.