BHASKAR: 5 Things You Need to Know About the Start-up Initiative The platform will serve as a centralised registry and help fuel the entrepreneurial journey from ideation to execution
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The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) and the Ministry of Commerce and Industry launched the digital platform 'Bharat Startup Knowledge Access Registry' (BHASKAR)' to strengthen the startup ecosystem in India, on Monday.
While India is home to over 1,46,000 DPIIT-recognised startups, challenges such as inadequate physical infrastructure, limited access to technological resources, and a dearth of incubation centres, mentorship programmes, and networking opportunities persist. This initiative will work towards harbouring connection, collaboration, cooperation, and competition in the start-up ecosystem.
"The concept is trying to integrate all the people who are dreams, doers, and disruptors. To get everyone together on one platform," shared Piyush Goyal, the Minister of Commerce and Industry during the BHASKAR launch, under the Startup India programme.
The origin behind BHASKAR can be traced back six months ago to the curtain raiser of Start-up Mahakumbh 2024. The platform will serve as a centralised registry and help fuel the entrepreneurial journey from ideation to execution.
Here are five things you need to know about this start-up initiative-
- Network and collaborate- With key stakeholders such as students, individual investors, traditional business owners, mentors, enablers, explorers and start-up founders, the platform will allow cross-sector engagement, via personalised dashboards and peer-to-peer connect features. According to the official website, 459,920 have already registered with BHASKAR.
- Centralised access to resources- The platform will serve as a one-stop repository. With immediate access to critical tools and knowledge, it will enable quicker decision-making and efficient scaling.
- Personalised identification- Every stakeholder will be allotted a unique BHASKAR ID. This will ensure that every interaction within the platform is personalised, streamlined, and impactful.
- Supporting Indian start-ups on a global level- BHASKAR aims to act as an elevating platform to position India worldwide. It will focus on promoting India as an innovation hub and will ease the process of cross-border collaboration.
- Prospective Section 8 company plan- The Minister also spoke on offering a USP to start-ups. He spoke on starting a Section 8 company and how we can recognize unicorns, "Why not have a system where we will be issuing shares, also in the Section 8 company, to everybody who becomes a unicorn? We have to find ways to encourage them." "The company will allow the Indian startup ecosystem to engage more directly with the government to communicate what you need from the government. This will speed up implementation of decisions like the abolishment of the angel tax," he added.
"We are the third largest (start-up ecosystem) in the world. We are spearheading all technology areas, from space, AI, EV, to Semiconductors. We have, in the process, built a very good ecosystem. It's not just the start-ups, but mentors, partnership with academia and incubators," said Amardeep Singh Bhatia, Secretary, DPIIT at the launch.
In February, the commerce ministry launched Bharat Startup Ecosystem Registry in pilot mode, making BHASKAR the second start-up registry.
Entrepreneur India will update more on the news.
