In the recent Indus Entrepreneurs (Tie) Global Summit, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal spoke on how Delhi has 7,000 active start-ups, which means it has a high potential to be a global start-up hub.
The the estimated value of the start-up ecosystem in Delhi is about $50 billion. The Delhi government is in advanced stages of introducing a start-up policy, and will soon become a global hub by providing collateral-free loans with a dedicated helpline. The helpline will be the Government’s doorstep service, which will address the problems being faced by the start-ups.
The Delhi government is also taking short-term and long-term steps to ensure that startups have access to the best quality human capital. This is being done through the Entrepreneurship Mindset Curriculum (EMC) in schools and the Delhi Skill and Entrepreneurship University.
Between January and June this year, around 109 start-ups were founded in Delhi-NCR alone. This pushes Delhi to the top five places likely to become start-up hubs, with about 12,000 startups and 30 unicorns. These are expected to be collectively valued at $150 billion by 2025.
The Delhi government is setting up a high-tech business park at Rani Khera with the first phase of the work expected to be completed in two years’ time. A range of networks with incubators, co-working spaces, and fabrication labs will be built and these will leverage the provisions of existing stakeholders in the market. Easy access to experts who can guide students in accounting, taxation, registration, legal help and digital marketing will also be provided.
The Education department is in the process of engaging close to 17,000 entrepreneurs for classroom interactions with students on EMC. The Delhi Skills and Entrepreneurship University is all set to upskill students and make them future-ready entrepreneurs.
The University’s first academic session is expected to start in 2021 with the capacity to enrol at least 1,25,000 students across different courses. Skill centres will also be set up to provide skill-based training and degrees.
