Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday shared his government's efforts in building a comprehensive framework and turning Delhi into a global start-up destination. He was adddressing the IndUS Entrepreneurs Global Summit 2020.
Kejriwal said there are over 7,000 start-ups in the capital, which makes Delhi a city with the highest number of active startups in the country with an estimated valuation of about $50 billion. He said the Delhi government was committed to ensure bouncing back strongly from the impact of COVID-19 pandemic.
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"According to a September 2019 TiE report, there are over 7000 startups from the Delhi-NCR region. This makes Delhi a the region with the highest number of active startups in the country. It is estimated that the valuation of the city’s start-ups is about 50 billion dollars. The region has also produced about 13 unicorns like PayTM, Oyo, and Zomato. At least one new unicorn has been emerging each year since 2013. Between January and June, 2020, 109 startups were founded in Delhi-NCR, the highest number of startups being founded in the first six months of 2020 in India," he said at the summit.
"The report states that Delhi-NCR is set to become one of the top five global start-up hubs with 12,000 startups and 30 unicorns. Their cumulative valuation will be about 150 billion dollars by 2025. Of course, it is not a given and that is why the Delhi government is committed to taking all necessary actions to ensure Delhi becomes a preferred destination for start-ups globally. First and foremost, what all start-ups need is good infrastructure. Delhi government is committed to providing world-class infrastructure and services for start-ups and businesses in Delhi. This includes, power supply, roads, public transport, water supply, education, and health infrastructure," he added.
Kejriwal said Delhi was probably the only city in India providing 24x7 power supply to its residents. "We don’t have power cuts. DG sets and inverters are all becoming redundant. But this wasn’t the case 5 years back when summers in Delhi were synonymous with 4-6 hours of power cuts. Over the last 5 years, we have worked round the clock with our DISCOMS to upgrade the entire network and ensure our residents get 24x7 supply and at the cheapest possible tariff. Delhi has a complex governance setup with over 16 agencies managing the road network. That makes it difficult to upgrade the road infrastructure. But we have ambitious plans to renovate and upgrade over 500 km of the largest roads in Delhi to European standards in the next 5 years," he said.
Kejriwal said that the Delhi government was at a very advanced stage of rolling out a Start-up Policy. "This will lay out a range of provisions to encourage and facilitate start-ups in Delhi. This policy is being developed after widespread consultations with TiE Delhi and several leading entrepreneurs, so we hope this will be a major boost for start-ups. For example, to help startups grow, we will form a range of networks with incubators, co-working spaces, and fabrication labs. These networks will leverage the provisions of existing stakeholders in the market. As part of the Start-up Policy, we plan to provide collateral-free loans for start-ups in priority areas. We will also enable easy access to experts who can aid start-ups with accounting, taxation, registration, legal help, digital marketing, and other such services. Further, Delhi government will align its public procurement in a manner that a fixed percentage of all of our goods and services are procured through recognized start-ups," he said.
