Goyal exhorts Indian investors to eye BIMSTEC nations to foster larger ecosystem for startups

Union minister Piyush Goyal on Friday exhorted Indian investors to eye the BIMSTEC nations for greater engagement through investments, mentoring and support to foster the larger ecosystem for startups in the region. He expressed confidence that India along with all the BIMSTEC nations ''will certainly experience unprecedented growth'' in the post Covid pandemic world and start a golden era of development. The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is a regional organisation comprising seven member states including Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand besides India.

Addressing 'Prarambh: The Startup India International Summit', the commerce and industry minister invited startups in India and the BIMSTEC nations to work together as partners and help take the world out of the dark period of the pandemic into a golden new era.

''Today I would like to encourage Indian capital and Indian investors to look at the BIMSTEC region, to look at our neighbours and work towards greater engagement, both through investments, mentoring and support to the larger ecosystem within the BIMSTEC region,'' Goyal said. He observed that through efforts like these, ''we can truly demonstrate to the world our joint and collective commitment to make the startup the pillar on which future economic development will rest and prosper''. ''Skill development is another area which will play a very very important role in fostering the entrepreneurial spirit and giving confidence to our entrepreneurs,'' Goyal said. The minister informed that over 41,000 startups have registered with the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade under the Commerce and Industry Ministry.