The Indo-US Startup Connect was a unique exhibition of Start-Ups that showcased products from 40 different companies. Forty startups from India are participating in the programme at San Jose, which was planned following PM Modi’s “Startup India, Stand up India” call from the ramparts of the Red Fort on Independence Day.
Narendra Modi: I thought of my government as a startup
The PM has famously compared his Government with a startup, adding that when he came to the corridors of power in Delhi, 15 months back, he felt as an outsider setting up a new venture. It is perhaps only natural that he places great faith in the entrepreneurial spirit of young India.
The PM went on to add that the mega corporations of today were startups of yesterday – saying that what is different now is that the digital age has created a fertile new environment for startups.
The PM also emphasised on key initiatives of the Govt – ‘JAM’, wherein the Jan Dhan Yojna – financial inclusion program, the Aadhaar card and Mobile e-Governance are all going to be heavily dependent on technology and its spread to rural India.
Key Quotes of the PM
• We want our 1.25 billion citizens to be digitally connected. We already have broadband usage across India go up by 63% last year.
• We have launched an aggressive expansion of the National Optical Fibre Network that will take broadband to our 600,000 villages.
• Building I-ways are as important as highways.
• 21st century belongs to India
• I am confident of India’s success because 65 per cent of the population of the country are of less than 35 years- 800 million.
Response of the IT Czars
• “PM Modi will change how world sees India” John Chambers, Cisco.
• “I was in India last year, I could feel the change. I met hungry entrepreneurs, similar to the ones I meet in Silicon Valley. India’s the fastest growing start-up nation in the world” Sundar Pichai, CEO Google.
• “Digital India initiative would ‘transform India into a digitally empowered’ knowledge economy” Shantanu Narayen, Adobe Systems.
• “India already has more internet traffic on mobile devices than any other country. India is poised to be leader in digital technology” Paul E Jacobs, Qualcomm.
• “Digital India will bring about solutions for the challenge of digital divide” Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO.
Key Takeaways
• The PM unveiled ‘Bharat Fund’, which will provide seed funding to Indian entrepreneurs.
• Nasscom signed an agreement with TiE Silicon Valley to facilitate a startup exchange and collaboration programme.
• IIM Ahmedabad’s business incubator CIIE signed MoUs with corporates and academic partners in the US to collaboratively build and scale-up disruptive innovations for India, through financial assistance and collaboration.
• Teaming up with Google, India will cover 500 railway stations with wifi in a short time.
• Satya Nadella has committed that Microsoft has plans to take technology to 500,000 villages in India.
• Qualcomm committed to an investment of $150millionin Indian start-ups.
US-based chip maker Qualcomm said it would invest up to $150 million (Rs 9.8 billion) in Indian startups via a venture fund.
Qualcomm already has a portfolio of 20 Indian companies. The chip-maker has invested in making wireless and mobile communication cheaper in India by working with smartphone vendors.
The company announced a Design-in-India competition and initiative which it hopes will encourage the creation of a local product design ecosystem, help make India a hub for design capabilities that drive the manufacturing value chain for 3G/4G smartphones, tablets and Internet of Everything (IoE) and leverage India’s engineering talent to scale innovation for both local consumption, and the rest of the world.
Sunder Pichai of Google praised the presence of what he described as “hungry” entrepreneurs, the same kind one would like in the Silicon Valley. Observing that there were more than 3,000 startups in India, he said that by many matrices, India is the fastest growing startup nation in the world. Companies like Flipkart, Hike, Zomato, Snapdeal these are all evidence of these are happening all around us. They are not just Indian success stories, they are global success stories and they create thousands of jobs.”
The visit by PM Modi has surely generated unprecedented excitement in the climate of startups.
Watch this space for more news on the follow-up of the PM’s visit.
Also Watch- Live Blog: PM Modi first visit in Silicon Valley
About Author:
Lively, talented, strong willed Arian, Arushi loves to experiment and innovate. A budding marketer – HR enthusiast – DIY artist – music lover – having more layers to her personality than hyphenated definitions can accommodate. Currently, she’s wrapping up her grad at DU and looking at the future with wonder and expectation. A keen explorer who has traveled extensively in India and aims to soak up the rest of the world soon!