Dr. Shailesh Kharkwal and Dr. Praveen Tiwari, Founders, H2O Mantra
Innovate India; a regular column of The Capital Post has now become the slogan of the country. PM Modi also coined the slogan during his Video Conferencing with various StartUps in the country. Here is the story of innovate India with a StartUp’s perspective by Dr. Praveen Tiwari who is the Director of H2O Mantra and was representing his startup during PM Modi’s Video Conferencing.
I’ve a personal engagement with the Slogan of Innovate India raised by PM Modi during a live conversation with various StartUps of the country. I had done a TV series with the same name with different StartUps. Although we were already working with our own innovation but knowing about other innovations is always a great learning. Then I got an opportunity to assist for the same concept for Print Media too with The Capital Post.
I was present in the Video Conferencing of Prime Minister Modi and I knew the complete process of getting selected in such an august forum. Only those were present who have really done something good with their StartUps. Our StartUp was started with a great vision of Late Sh. Anil Madhav Dave. He was a visionary politician and a close associate of Mr. Modi too. After the untimed and unfortunate demise of Mr. Dave we thought that everything has been finished. We had no other project of connection to proceed for future projects. After recovering from this shock, we started attempts to meet the District Magistrates of different cities for the same project.
Whichever we met, fervently admired us as our innovation was very impressive but the real challenge was to find our place in an already accumulated market. StartUp registration and amenities available for the StartUps in India really gave us a boost. We got a confidence that vision is not confined and we have many opportunities, what we need is to just explore it. You should know about this great initiative with a start-up’s perspective also.
The way we got an opportunity to interact with PM was the story of all the StartUps across the country. Start-Up India office short listed few StartUps as per there business performance and social entrepreneurship as well. H2O Mantra was the lucky one as we did some good work with various government projects through GeM (Government e-Marketing Platform). Government of India had launched an e-marketplace that aims to help all the government officials in purchasing goods and services that are of common use.
Such an open and transparent market place for government purchase is a boon for StartUps in India. Although it has certain limitations of purchase and other things but stills at initial level it can avail you a good business. What you need is to understand the process of registration and placing your products or innovations precisely. Business through GeM was the criteria for our selection by StartUp India office. They sent a team which filmed our factory and talked about other things. After this they sent their recommendation to Ghaziabad DM Office. DM called upon a meeting with various StartUps in Ghaziabad. DM Office selected 15 of them to come for the interaction. Although there was a time limitation and being a TV person I know the restriction for audio video accuracy. This was the reason that limited people were able to speak about their innovation. In spite of this limitation hundreds of StartUp were participating during the Video Conferencing.
Many of the people could confined this Video Conferencing to one day affair but the core intend of this process is not limited. Local administration is now in direct connection with the StartUp of their city and business possibility could be understand by this small fact that during last year only Ghaziabad have done a purchase of around 300 Cr. through GeM. Now consider all the local administration dealing with StartUp there could give them a vast possibility of business with government.
This process has also given a chance to bring various startup at single platform. They can now discuss their common problem and can be benefited by other’s experience. There is always a possibility of improvement with all the schemes and so is the case with StartUp India too. Like track records of the company is still a hurdle for StartUps to compete for big tenders. Another challenge is to get funds for the big projects. When a StartUp approach some investors for some projects they start planning to capture the innovation and StartUp on the pretext of the investment. These are the some key issues which government should address as soon as possible to make StartUps a new strength of the economy and employment. On an average every small StartUp is employing 15 people, which can make a big difference in coming days.
Five States in India have shown promising support to startups. Influenced by the central government’s efforts to promote the startup culture in India, the state governments too have formulated policies, allocated funds and set up incubators to boost the startup culture. Gujarat, Telangana, Karnataka, Rajasthan and Kerala have devised plans to nurture their own startups by setting up Incubators. We haven’t worked with any of these stated till now, still we are getting benefited by StartUp initiative. We have majorly worked with Madhya Pradesh and it’s catching up the pace of other states rapidly. Lack of awareness in government agencies and conventional standards of purchase in many states is still a challenge.
Gujarat is an important state that is showing vibrant growth. With an IT and Electronics Startup Policy launched in July 2016, the state has laid special emphasis on encouraging new ventures by providing them various incentives and subsidies. Under the policy, the state government would develop 50 incubators to mentor and guide 2,000 startups in the next five years, and attract an investment of Rs 7,000 crore.
Digital India, Skill India, Make in India and StartUp India are not merely rhetoric but these including a vision too. PM recently visited Singapore and our StartUp is basically a product of National University of Singapore as two of our directors have closely worked with the Singapore Government too. Now we can nurture the same quality of innovation in India too. We can have collaboration with international innovators too to bring better ideas and innovation. This is the prime requirement of the time as world is far ahead from us as far as technology is concerned. We have to be updated for the same as prosperity lies in the technology.
