CII, MeitY ink pact on startups

Confederation of Indian Industry signed a three-year agreement with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) on Wednesday to strengthen the startup ecosystem in the country.

"As part of the MoU, startups in electronics and IT sector, being incubated by MeitY, will be brought under the ambit of CII's Corporate-Start-up Business Connect Platform which will help them connect with industry for mutual benefits and gaining access to international markets," CII said.

Companies will handhold the startups by mentoring them, guiding them, bringing them in the supply chain if possible and investing in them if they see potential for mutual business benefits.

The pairing of the two will be purely on commercial basis, with business interest and profitability in mind on both sides.

Under the MoU, mutual soft-landing platforms for startups between India and other countries will also be explored.

The MeitY Startup Hub and CII will together work on creating an enabling ecosystem for startups from other countries to come and explore the Indian market on very easy and affordable terms.

They will essentially be provided free / near free space for a specified time period in a city of their choice in India, inside a co-working environment, where they will be able to interact with other startups, explore the market opportunities, further develop their product according to the requirements of the Indian market and then do some trial runs.

Once the overseas entity will feel confident of securing a toehold in the Indian market, it could venture out on its own at a bigger scale. Similar soft-landing opportunities will also be created for Indian startups in other countries, CII said.