New Delhi: Piyush Goyal, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food, and Public Distribution and Textiles, on Monday, inaugurated ṭhe “Startup India Innovation Week Launch” virtually from New Delhi and said startups turned COVID-19 crises into an opportunity and made 2021 the Year of unicorns; with 3rd largest number of Unicorns (82) in the world, said a statement.
He added that startups can play a key role in socializing and democratizing healthcare across the globe at a time when the world is grappling with the coronavirus pandemic.
Emphasizing the significance of Open Network Digital Commerce (ONDC), the minister said that the government was “working actively” on the ONDC and further stressed that this would be a game-changer that will help our entrepreneurs to save cost as well as build trust and would help bridge the gap between mighty corporations and small startups and help bring inequity in the business ecosystem, the statement adds.
He outlined three goals for Indian entrepreneurs, 'Make in India’, ‘Innovate in India’, and ‘Mentor the next generation of entrepreneurs.' He also said that there was a need to make our startups much more resilient so that they are well prepared to mitigate and overcome crisis situations like the pandemic.
Piyush said that the mantra for startups for further growth is SENSE- Share, Explore, Nurture, Serve and Empower. He said the government has taken several steps to encourage startups including 80% rebate on patent filing and 50% on trademark filing fees, relaxation in public procurement norms, self-certification under labour and environmental laws, funds of funds for startups, IT exemption for three out of 10 years and seed fund scheme of Rs 945 crore.
An improved IPR regime has resulted in the registration of 1.16 million trademarks in the last 4 years, compared to 1.1 million registrations in the last 75 years, he added.
Anupriya Singh Patel, Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Anurag Jain, Secretary, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Shruti Singh, Joint Secretary, DPIIT, Abhiraj Singh Bhal, Co-Founder & CEO, Urban Company and Sanjeev Bikhchandani, Co-Founder, Info Edge also addressed the inaugural session.
