India has proposed a new group at the G-20 level for startups to address issues, including lack of financing and policy support, that often stymie their growth, a top government official said on Monday. India is going to assume the presidency of the G-20 grouping in December.
Startups in India and elsewhere have already been hit hard by the pandemic and are now going to be impacted further by the rising interest rate scenario when liquidity is unlikely to be easily available to them. The Indian startup eco-system has emerged as the world’s third-largest, with over 75,000 startups and about 100 unicorns.
Anurag Jain, secretary in the department for the promotion of industry and internal trade (DPIIT), also said the G-20 grouping should work towards creating and adopting guiding principles for open source and inter-operable platforms and firm up standards to promote inclusive digitisation across the world.
Highlighting India’s success in harnessing technology to create platforms like the UPI and Aadhaar, Jain said knowledge, innovation, and sustainability have emerged as the drivers of economic growth in the modern age. Even the CoWIN platform has helped transform the country’s Covid vaccination drive.
Jain was speaking at the B20 Indonesia Global Dialogue here, organised by the CII.
G-20 needs to talk about sustainable growth for all: Amitabh Kant
Speaking at the event, India’s G-20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant called on the forum to drive economic growth and talk about sustainable growth for all, and not just a few.
The developed world hasn’t honoured its commitment with regard to providing climate finance, Kant said, as he called on the advanced nations to do more to match their pledges. The G-20 Sherpa also called for long-pending reforms in multilateral institutions like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
Such institutions “need to be the institutions for climate finance… They do not provide blended finance”, he said, while making a case for their restructuring.
