Prime Minister to unveil Madhya Pradesh Startup Policy

May 10, 2022

INDORE, 10 May 2022: Mr Omprakash Sakhlecha, Minister MSME and Science & Technology, Government of Madhya Pradesh said that the government of Madhya Pradesh will leave no stone unturned in building a start-up ecosystem in the state.   

He was addressing Pitch Up, the Curtain Raiser event for Madhya Pradesh Start-up Conclave in the city yesterday. Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi will virtually unveil the Start-up policy of the state at the conclave in the presence of Chief Minister Mr Shivraj Singh Chauhan on 13 May. FICCI is the industry partner for the event. 

In his address, Mr P Narahari, Secretary, Department of MSME, Government of Madhya Pradesh, said, "The country has no talent shortage. Still, it needs good policy and an ecosystem for start-ups to flourish."

He averred that the upcoming Start-up policy of Madhya Pradesh entails zero paperwork. He added that a dedicated web portal had been developed, which is also integrated into the Start-up India portal for better complementarities in terms of availability of mentors, investors and other stakeholders in the start-up community. 

"The entire application process for accessing government finance will be done through the dedicated portal," he said, adding, "Those who want to access government funds could apply today, and we will try to process and sanction those by 13 May."  

He said that the government is working on building an ecosystem in the state to attract start-ups. In this regard, the state government will establish the MP Start-up Centre to assist the entrepreneur community.  

The secretary said that provisions are being added to the store purchase rules to help start-ups participate in government procurement process in the state.  

In addition, the government of Madhya Pradesh is empanelling Alternate Investment Funds to identify start-ups that need funding; the government and the AIF would contribute 50 per cent each in funding to the selected start-ups. 

In his address, Mr Shankar Lalwani, the Member of Parliament from Indore, alluded to start-ups' office space needs. He said that Indore Development Authority is working on providing good workspace. 

In this regard, Dr Nishant Khare, Mentor, Start IN Indore, said a Start-up Hub spread over 22 acres could be established in Indore. Dr Khare noted that 97 per cent of the start-ups in the pre-seed and the seed level need funding of less than one crore and alluded to the need for a local environment to address start-up initial funding needs. He called for treating start-ups as an asset class.  

"Intelligent investment in start-ups is an asset class; if we can do this, our start-ups will not need to access outside sources for funding," he said. 

In addition, a start-up pitching session was also organised at the event. Mr Sawan S Laddha, Founder, Office Space & Growth Specialist, said that around 65 pitches were received, and about 100 investors expressed interest in the pitching session.