HYDERABAD: Startup20 (S20), the first engagement group on startups at G20, started up in startup hub of Hyderabad, the capital of India's youngest state on Saturday. Nearly 200 international and Indian delegates converged in the city for the two-day inception meeting that aims to set the ball rolling for creating a framework for increased cooperation among the global startup ecosystem and find solutions to global problems.
In attendance were representatives of the 43 G20 countries (19 countries plus EU), nine observer nations invited by India as well as about 100 Indian delegates including Nasscom president Debjani Ghosh, Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Godrej Agrovet chairperson Nadir Godrej and Avaana Capital founder Anjali Bansal.
Terming India as an oasis of calm in a churning ocean, Union minister for tourism, culture and development of North Eastern region G Kishan Reddy said startups would drive India's GDP growth in the next 20 years with India emerging as the land of job creators and not job seekers.
"India is the ideal location for today's startup engagement group with over 85,000 registered startups and 100 plus unicorns with a combined valuation of over $350 billion. Startups will play a key role in leveraging the 4-Ds that India offers - vibrant democracy, development of all through Sab ka Saath Sab K Vikaas, digital public infrastructure and decarbonisation," Reddy said.
Union minister of state for commerce and industry Som Prakash said the golden era for startups has begun. They have created more than 90 lakh jobs with about 80 new startups being set up every day.
NITI Aayog CEO Parameswaran Iyer said Hyderabad being one of the most happening startup hubs in India was the perfect place to kick off the S20 deliberations.
India's G20 Sherpa, Amitabh Kant, said that tech disruption was the order of the day in the age of AI&ML, cloudification of data, digitisation, space tech, electric mobility, green hydrogen and battery storage and that even PLI schemes would require disruption of a very high order.
Kant said the outcome of the S20 deliberations that started with Hyderabad will see three tracks of deliberations being held - foundations & alliances, finance as well as inclusiveness & sustainability - at Sikkim, Andamans and Bengaluru before the grand summit in Gurugram in July this year. "Whatever S20 decides will be a major component of our final G20 communique," Kant explained.
Telangana IT & industries principal secretary Jayesh Ranjan said it was fitting that Hyderabad, which houses innovation role models like T-Hub and T-Works, was introducing the S20 delegates to the world of startups in India.
He said contrary to popular perception that governments have a very limited role in innovation and entrepreneurship, the Telangana government had established a different narrative that governments have a strong role and responsibility in catalysing the entrepreneurial world.
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