Through startups, Indian youth wants to become job creators: G Kishan Reddy

Terming India an ideal location for today's start-up engagement group, Union Minister G Kishan Reddy said on Saturday that the youth of the country are now desirous of becoming job creators and not job seekers.

"The Union Minister of Culture, Tourism and the Development of the North Eastern Region, G Kishan Reddy attended the Inception Meeting of the G-20 Start-up 20 Engagement Group at the Taj Krishna in Hyderabad today," informed a press release.

Addressing the delegates and the participants under the theme of 'Innovating for Amrit Kaal, India @ 2047', he said, "True to its theme, this G-20 under India's presidency aims to set the course for acting responsibly, aiming for joint cooperation and achieving and sharing our successes."

"One Earth. One Family. One Future. Attended and addressed the inaugural of the #G20 #StartUp20 Inception Meeting in Hyderabad. Proud to witness India assuming the presidency of the #G20 and take the lead in promoting entrepreneurship and innovation," he said.

Speaking about the start-up ecosystem in India, the Union Minister said "India is the ideal location for today's start-up engagement group as we have close to 85,000 registered start-ups with 100 plus unicorns at a combined valuation of $350 billion dollars."

"With the third highest number of unicorns in the world, it is only a matter of time before India leads this list. Through our start-ups, our youth wants to become job creators instead of job seekers. Our startups are innovating, investing, and inventing new products and experiences. Our large talent pool and our demographic dividend make India an ideal investment location", he added.

G Kishan Reddy also spoke about the various initiatives taken by the Government in fostering a vibrant innovation and start-up Ecosystem.

The Union Minister spoke about the Fund of Funds for Startups (FFS) Scheme that was established with a corpus of USD 1.25 Billion dollars (Rs 10,000 crore) and has catalyzed approximately USD 1.75 billion dollars (Rs. 13,500 crores) of investments.

He further talked about the Government's Startup India Seed Fund Scheme that has approved $ 60 Million Dollars (Rs. 455.25 crores) for 126 incubators. Reddy attributed India's jump of 41 places in the Global Innovation Index in the last 7 years to the untiring efforts of the Government of India.

The Union Minister had previously written an Op-Ed in a leading English Daily on India assuming the G-20.

In the article he wrote about how India's presidency allows the world to focus on the 4Ds: De-escalating conflicts, Digitalisation, Development which will be equitable and inclusive, and Decarbonisation to fight the climate crisis.

Further emphasising the points at the meeting, the Union Minister said, "Startups will play a key role in leveraging the 4-Ds that India is offering. With vibrant democracy, development, digital public infrastructure, and decarbonisation with opportunities in green, hydrogen and renewable energy we have the potential to emerge as the 3rd largest economy and innovation will be one of our levers".

He said that the government is taking steps to ensure a complete and a holistic experience of India, like never before.

"India is home to rich living cultural heritage and I invite all the delegates to explore this great land during your stay. We are working closely with the G-20 Sherpa in ensuring you all experience the local culture, cuisine, and art and crafts of our country. With this Start-up engagement group, I would also invite startups to help us find innovative solutions and new ideas in preserving our rich cultural heritage and guiding us through the use of new technologies in providing an immersive experience to our tourists," he said.

The meeting was also attended by the Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Shri Som Prakash, Sherpa of the G-20, Amitabh Kant, CEO of NITI Aayog, Parameshwaran Iyer, officers of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and delegates from the G-20 nations, special invitees from the observer countries, representatives from various multilateral organisations and the Global and Indian startup ecosystem.

India assumed the G-20 presidency on December 1, 2022, for a period of one year. In this period, India would be hosting close to 1 Lakh delegates from 20 G-20 Countries and 9 Observer nations.

More than 200 meetings will be held across 56 locations in the country. Hyderabad is hosting the Inception meeting of the G20 Startup20 Engagement Group. The StartUp20 Side Meeting and the StartUp20 Summit Meeting are scheduled to be held in Gangtok and Gurgaon respectively later in the year, the release added.