As part of the MoU, mutual soft-landing platforms for start-ups between India and other countries will also be explored.

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) signed a three-year memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) on Wednesday to strengthen the start-up eco-system in the country. As part of the MoU, start-ups in electronics and IT sector, being incubated by MeitY, will be brought under the ambit of CII's Corporate-Start-up Business Connect Platform which will help them connect with industry for mutual benefits and gaining access to international markets. MeitY Startup Hub (MSH) will work with CII to execute this MoU.

Companies will handhold the start-ups by mentoring them, guiding them, bringing them in the supply chain if possible and investing in them if they see potential for mutual business benefits. The pairing of the two will be purely on commercial basis, with business interest and profitability in mind on both sides. The enrolled start-ups will also become entrants for the second edition of CII Startupreneur Awards and top ones will go on to win top awards sponsored by corporate houses. The awards will provide an additional opportunity to top start-ups to connect with top corporates in the country.

As part of the MoU, mutual soft-landing platforms for start-ups between India and other countries will also be explored. The MeitY Startup Hub and CII will together work on creating an enabling ecosystem for start-ups from other countries to come and explore the Indian market on very easy and affordable terms. They will essentially be provided free / near free space for a specified time period in a city of their choice in India, inside a co-working environment, where they will be able to interact with other start-ups, explore the market opportunities, further develop / fine tune their product according to the requirements of the Indian market and then do some trial runs. Once the overseas entity will feel confident of securing a toehold in the Indian market, it could venture out on its own at a bigger scale. Similar soft-landing opportunities will also be created for Indian start-ups in other countries.

Towards this, MeitY Startup Hub will help CII in creating soft-landing platforms through its network of incubators. For all IT and IT related start-ups coming from overseas, the actual space to begin operations and the resultant soft-landing will be provided in these incubators.

Kris Gopalakrishnan, Chairman of CII Start-up Council, said that the MoU will bring more start-ups in electronics and IT sector in touch with CII member companies. Start-ups will benefit from this as CII members are potential customers. CII members will benefit since these start-ups are working in cutting edge technologies such as AI / ML, blockchain, internet of things or deep technology.

Joint Secretary, MeitY, S. Gopalkrishnan said that the start-ups being incubated under the Ministry's Technology Incubation and Development Entrepreneurs (TIDE) scheme and various Centres of Excellence will hugely benefit from the activities of MeitY Startup Hub. Such MoUs will be highly beneficial for the success and maturation of Indian tech start-ups.

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