Government's Prompt Action Ensured Indian Startups Were Not Adversely Impacted By SVB Crisis, Says Ashwini Vaishnaw The minister further urged the entire startup community to think of the Indian banking sector as their trusted partner
By Teena Jose
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
You're reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media.
Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Monday said that prompt action by the government to help Indian startups in the aftermath of the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) collapse ensured that they were not adversely impacted by the 'minor crisis'.
The minister further urged the entire startup community to think of the Indian banking sector as their trusted partner, adding that the rapid strides taken by India in areas of artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum computing.
Speaking at the India Global Forum event, the minister said that, "There was a time when India was only seen as a consumer of technology, today many global developers like to have Indian startups, entrepreneurs and academicians as their partners, as technology gets developed. In these two technologies, we would like to use Indian talent for developing solutions for India and for the world."
Furthermore, being asked whether India can produce something equivalent to ChatGPT, the Minister said that, "Wait for a few weeks there will be a big announcement."
The Minister went on to say that following the collapse of SVB, the government swung into action to help Indian start-ups with money or deposits in the bank.
"How we responded to that minor crisis was to immediately engage with the entire start-up community and ensure that whatever deposits they wanted shifted to Indian banks. The entire process was flawlessly executed by collaboration between different arms of government," said Vaishnaw
The minister also urged the global entrepreneurs and innovators across industries to use India's competitive advantage to create trusted technology for the nation and the world, and also advised that, "We have requested that all startups do not consider putting their funds in any bank anywhere other than India. And I will ask everyone in the global startup community to consider India as their trusted banking industry."
While elaborating the SVB collapse from the perspective of Indian startups, Subhashis Kar, founder and CEO of Techbooze Consultancy Services said that, "The recent closure of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), a leading investor in global startups, has sent shockwaves through India's start-up community. While the impact of the closure is likely to be felt more keenly by Indian SaaS companies in the US than in the broader Indian startup scene, the closure of such a significant investor in the start-up ecosystem has certainly raised concerns. The Indian startup community has grown significantly in recent years, and investors are now looking for reassurance that the closure of such an important institution will not have long-term ramifications for the industry. As the situation unfolds, it remains to be seen how Indian startups will adapt to this new reality and what measures will be taken to mitigate the impact of SVB's closure."
