The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has planned to develop the country’s largest startup ecosystem on the outskirt of Lucknow, according to media reports.
The state has already identified about 40 acres of land near Lucknow Airport for the proposed startup incubation ecosystem comprising data centre, business processes outsourcing (BPO), development centre, training centres etc.
What is the plan?
- In the first phase, the Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), a central government agency, is likely to invest about Rs 200 million to develop the main complex of the startup hub spread over 2 acres.
“We estimate that it would take 6 months to forge the necessary tie-ups with other stakeholders and partners on board, while the startup hub would be up and running in the next 3 years,”
UP additional chief secretary (IT & electronics) Sanjiv Saran reportedly said.
- He added that the proposed facility is touted to be the largest in terms of the carpet area and bench strength.
- The state government had received 11 investment proposals worth Rs 130 billion for setting up startup ventures at the UP Investors Summit 2018 on 21-22 February and these proposals are being followed up for early fruition.
- The department would also tie-up with reputed UP based institutions, such as Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow (IIM-L), Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IIT-K), Banaras Hindu University (BHU) etc as key knowledge partners in the ambitious project.
- A dedicated startup fund of Rs 10 billion in association with Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) has been made. About 2.5 billion had already been allocated for startups in the state. SIDBI had launched a financial technology incubator at IIM-L called ‘SIDBI Centre for Innovations in Financial Inclusion’ (SCI-FI), mandated to catering, not just the IIM-L, but other institutions as well. SIDBI is keen to support similar incubators in other institutions too.
- A startup helpline for the benefit of greenhorns looking to creating the next unicorns in the country.
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After coming to power, the government had clearly shown its priority towards startups to promote entrepreneurship and generate employment for youth. In fact, the government has talked of holding startup workshops in all the 18 divisions of the state in near future. A panel of 100 mentors has been created for helping the startups in initial stages and facilitating the transformation of their business ideas to marketable products.
Of late, Lucknow has been witnessing a steady scaling up of startup ecosystems in the private sector. The startup infrastructure and support system are growing faster in Lucknow and it is now home to over 400 startups and counting. The UP startup ecosystem is proliferating in all dimensions viz. start-up funding, incubation, hand holding, co-working space, knowledge sharing etc.
It is great to see several states in India working towards making an encouraging atmosphere for the budding entrepreneurs. We hope this helps India to grow more and more.
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