Ready to talk to startups to allay their concerns and prevent them from leaving India: Sitharaman

The government is ready to talk to the startups considering moving abroad and tackle their problems as much as possible to help them stay in India, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said Tuesday.



Prime Minister Narendra Modi, she told a think tank here, is involved with startups and government policies have created an enabling environment that allows more than 100 unicorns in india.

“I have engaged the Prime Minister with the startups to know what they want from India. And we continued to address their concerns as much as possible. Now because of what, not only because of that, but also because of that, you saw your unicorns reach 100 in number within the year 2020 and 2021,” she said in response to a question at the prestigious Brookings Institute thinktank.

“I’ve heard this from others too. They (startups) are moving to Singapore, they’re moving to UAE. Well, if they want to talk to the Government of India and say, look, we’d move to Singapore, but if we did this, we’d be really happy to be here. And after we hear it, if it’s possible, we will definitely listen to them,” Sitharaman said when asked about the successful Indian startups venturing out of the country.

“So I think continuous engagement with the startups will help them stay in India and do better. But if there are temptations that they want to go out for, we need to understand how much we can entertain and serve on those courses. They are not all possible, but we might as well try,” said Sitharaman.

In response to another question, the finance minister said the Indian government is making special efforts to encourage startups in the Northeast.

“I remember meeting with the chief ministers of those regions about startups and especially IIT Guwahati interacts a lot with the industry and also encourages the startups by taking on challenges to come up with solutions,” she said.

“As a result, in the Northeast, I find these unique, very typical of the Northeast kind of solutions that come out of startups emerging in that area,” she added.

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