Karnataka will go the extra mile to support startups, says CM Bommai

“We are not worried about the competition. It keeps us going and growing,” said Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, indicating his government’s support for startups in Karnataka

The Karnataka government has pledged its support for startups and the state is not worried about competition, according to Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai.

“The Karnataka government will go [the extra] mile in supporting startups. We are not worried about the competition. It keeps us going and growing. We convert the competition into acceleration,” he said on Thursday at the India Global Innovation Connect, a global conference on startups

The conference is organised by Smadja & Smadja, a Switzerland-based strategic advisory firm, in partnership with Karnataka Digital Economy Mission (KDEM), Catamaran Ventures, and Tata Digital.

Karnataka was the first state in the country to introduce a startup policy, said Mr. Bommai. He added that the seeds of the startup revolution were sown by the Maharaja of Mysore who supported industrialisation, banking and innovation much before the country attained independence.

Bengaluru currently hosts 400 of the Fortune 500 companies and no other country in the world has as many such companies, according to Mr. Bommai.

Claude Smadja, President, Smadja & Smadja, said, “India has always been a land of great entrepreneurial promise. As the 4th Industrial evolution has begun, it is pertinent to acknowledge that India will play the role of a catalyst especially with its ability to innovate solutions for itself and the world.’‘

India now has the world’s third-largest startup ecosystem and Bengaluru’s emergence as the new Silicon Valley of the world would lead to a greater, safer and stronger tomorrow, Smadja acknowledged.