Minister sees consumer digital economy at $800bn by 2030
Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal today called for further strengthening of ethics and corporate governance norms in startups, underlining the need to think in long-term, in order to create sustainable wealth for the people and society.
Addressing the ‘Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)- Global Unicorn Summit- Shaping 1,000 Unicorns by 2030’ in New Delhi on 28 April 2022, he stressed that instances of fudging revenues, data fraud, tax evasions and other malpractices have to be curbed at an early stage or it would kill the entrepreneurial spirit of young startups and have a very damaging effects to the startup ecosystem.
He called for more transparency and the setting up of better standards and benchmarks and more self-regulation in the starup ecosystem.
Observing that India is home to 95 unicorns, Goyal quipped, “We needed just one more sixer to hit a Century of Unicorns. The Government’s efforts to reduce regulatory compliance burden has encouraged innovation and promoted commercialization of IPR and made it easier to begin, operate, grow and exit businesses.”
The Minister spoke of the tremendous talent that lay in Tier 2, 3 cities and smaller villages of India. He urged that the startup revolution be taken in that direction.
“Startups like Zoho recruit coders from rural areas thus bringing Silicon Valley to rural India.”
Expressing his desire to see that startups must incorporate in India and list in India and not move to tax havens, Goyal encouraged them to approach the government if they face any issues and assured that it would strive to resolve problems.
The Minister said that Venture Capitalists must also promote and protect Intellectual Property created by young entrepreneurs, provide expertise to scale-up and explore greater capital infusion.
He expressed hope that Indian Intellectual Property would benefit the world but asked that India be the primary beneficiary of these innovations.
Reiterating the Prime Minister’s clarion called of ‘vocal for local’, and ‘local to global’, Shri Goyal said that there could be nobody better than our startups to realize both these mantras.
Terming cyber security and data privacy as pressing issues faced by the global economy as digitization rose, Goyal pointed out that India’s consumer digital economy of approximately US$100 billion is expected to become a US$800 billion market by 2030.
He underlined the persistent need to ensure that the enormous data collected by digital technology platforms is safeguarded.
Speaking of the tech revolution that Indian economy has been witnessing, with unicorns emerging in Fintech, Edtech, Healthtech, e-Commerce and media among other sectors, the Minister reminded that within 2-3 months of Startup India Global VC Summit 2019, National Startup Advisory Council (NSAC) was formulated, which, he said, had done a stellar job in promotion innovation and startups.
Goyal stressed that Indian startups are now offering some outstanding, high-quality solutions to the modern problems faced by society.
He cited examples of Mumbai-based Qure.ai using deep learning algorithms to interpret X-rays and CT scans in seconds and Bengaluru-based CropIn Technology which provides one-stop SaaS based solutions to farmers – real time weather updates and predicts crop yields.
The Minister also highlighted the need to encourage startups whose business model is based on high tech innovation in engineering, defence or significant scientific advances.
“Technology makes the impossible, possible! With rise of digital commerce metaverse new opportunities for the users and providers to connect will be unlocked.”
The Minister has also called for the metaverse to be leveraged to boost trade and commerce.
Goyal opined that in India’s bid to become Aatmanirbhar in energy and defence, there was a lot of white space which can be filled by startups, thus reducing our dependence on imports.
Space is another avenue in which Government is encouraging private players to explore collaboration with ISRO, he added.
He noted that many of India’s startups were already venturing out beyond the borders of India and making a mark for themselves in both emerging economies and developed world by being scalable and affordable.
Asking the nation to buy from startups and encourage B2B procurement from startups, Goyal said that startups must also be stimulated by subscribing to their IPOs and giving them access to domestic capital.
He called for more media coverage for startups, especially in regional languages so that their ideas reach even remote parts of the country.
The Minister also stated, “Efforts made by startups must be respected and the founders, the heroes of the startup ecosystem, must be given their due recognition.
“Reaching the 1000 unicorns mark by 2030 is an achievable dream.”
He called for the creation of a Gen-next National Council “to nurture entrepreneurial talent and potential of our youngsters and to give both continuity and change to the startup ecosystem through its structure and functioning.
“The Government was committed to supporting entrepreneurs and investors in the common pursuit of making India the best place for innovation and startups.” fiinews.com
