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Attracting more Tech-SMEs and Start-ups in Madhya Pradesh
Attracting more Tech-SMEs and Start-ups in Madhya Pradesh

January 27, 2022

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On January 17, 2022, we interacted with the State IT Minister of Madhya Pradesh (MP), to discuss ideas on attracting more tech-start-ups and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to Madhya Pradesh. Our suggestions focussed on four important aspects of the IT and innovation industry:

  1. Recommendations for establishing MP as a preferred destination for start-ups
  • Funding support to Tech Start-ups: by expanding the existing seed-fund to a 50 Crore fund, disbursing benefits via a graded approach based on an assessment of the requirements of each start-up, and, providing additional 25% capital from MP Venture Finance Limited to start-ups which have raised equity capital from SEBI registered venture capital funds.
  • Building start-up hubs to develop and promote end-to-end innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystem in MP, build a brand image for MP as a go-to State for new start-ups and establishing establish market exchange programmes to help promising start-ups expand into international markets.
  • Building entrepreneurship and tech-skills from ground up, by establishing tinkering labs in schools/universities to create an environment that facilitates idea generation among youth, conducting workshops to inculcate entrepreneurial skills and partnering with EdTech platforms (including NASSCOM FutureSkills) to institute a scholarship to enable university students and working professionals to undertake verified certificate programs in emerging tech areas such as machine learning, AI etc.
  • EODB for start-ups: creating a one-stop solution for all start-up needs such as, connect with incubators, mentorship, connect with investors, connect with markets, capacity building on IP, help-desk for all relevant information related to doing business in MP, relevant policies and regulations etc. These can be developed in cities such as Indore and Bhopal.
  1. Recommendations for the Engineering Research & Development (ER&D) industry
  • Show case Auto/Industrial clusters and attract 10 Global Capability Centres (GCCs)/ER&D companies in the Automotive and Industrial sector to set-up their centers in MP (Indore & Jabalpur). For this, we suggested providing investment subsidy of 20% for 3 years, recruitment assistance for first 200 employees up to 60 lakhs for 3 years, R&D fund to create new technologies/products, building shared R&D infrastructure and incentivising setting up of corporate start-up incubators/accelerators.
  • Building the next-gen talent pool for transforming the industry: for this, we recommended setting up boot camp programs for skills required in the ER&D industry in cities like Bhopal, Indore and Jabalpur, and driving industry-academia collaboration by providing grants of up to 75% of applied research costs.
  1. Recommendations for the BPM industry
  • Leverage the BPM opportunity at cities like Indore and Bhopal. For this we suggested improving flight connectivity with tech-hubs, providing industry-grade electricity and network infrastructure to enable work from home, increase the available talent pool in finance & accounts, healthcare, data validation etc.
  • Create plug-and-play capacities, by providing rental subsidy in a phased manner depending on the size of the company, landing support in the form of residences, schooling, making local public transportation available from 5am to 1 am and inviting common infrastructure players.
  1. Promoting MP as a preferred state for digital trade

In order to promote e-commerce start-ups to set-up operations in MP and harness the State’s potential to support digital trade, the State should focus on the following:

  • Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Infrastructure: this includes improving penetration and quality of key ICT services like broadband, improving penetration of digital payments etc.
  • Logistics Infrastructure: availability of quality warehousing infrastructure, penetration of highway/road network within the state etc.
  • Policy and Regulatory: this includes, actions taken by State government to support offline businesses to transition to online channels, efficacy of Sate GST administration for e-commerce, digitisation of consumer dispute redressal mechanisms, state labour rules for gig workers etc.

We also suggested that the State may consider partnering with NASSCOM for a study to assess States’ e-commerce readiness. The findings of this study will assist in taking action to improve e-commerce in MP. The Minister welcomed our suggestions and suggested an ongoing engagement to take the discussion forward.

 

For more information, kindly write to policy@nasscom.in.


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Garima Prakash
Manager, Public Policy and Government Affairs

Reach out to me for all things policy about e-commerce, international trade, export controls, start-ups and fintech

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