Urges corporate biggies Tatas, Birla, Bajaj to chip in with funds
New Delhi, Aug 12 (Agency) Exhorting industry stalwarts to come forward and support start-ups, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday mooted the idea of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) setting up a Rs 10,000 crore corpus for the goal. The Minister said that he had repeatedly requested industry to help start-ups with early-stage funding. Noting that foreign companies were coming and buying out Indian start-ups, Goyal called upon corporate houses such as Ambanis, Tatas, Bajaj and Birlas to pool Rs 100 crore, Rs 200 crore or Rs 500 crore.
“All of you should be pitching in. Even if you pitch in Rs 100, crore, Rs 200 crore or Rs 500 crore each, how big support the start-ups of the country would get. Then, foreign firms would not be able to buy them cheap,” he said. “I can understand foreign listings and foreign investors coming when value is created. But for that value creation you all should help. You will make guaranteed profits in that also even if one out of 10 companies does well,” he added. Speaking at CII’s Annual Meeting 2021, Goyal mentioned that he had discussed the idea before with several industry leaders. He asked CII to take the lead and create the fund for start-ups. On suggestion from the industry to create the pool of skilled manpower, the Minister asked the private sector to lead and commit serious investment. “My suggestion is you people take more initiatives. Use us wherever you want to provide the support services to make it easier for you to do it. But try to engage with the government not as the primary person in this scenario but only as a support. That is good for all of you,” he said.