Kochi, Kerala:
The Kerala government will formulate a proposal and submit it to the Centre to get funds from the Rs 10,000-crore corpus allocated in the Union Budget for start-ups, state Industries and IT Secretary PH Kurian said.
"We have started discussions in this regard and a comprehensive plan will be drafted to get sufficient funds from the Centre to fuel the growth of the startup ecosystem in the state," Mr Kurian said in a panel discussion titled "how the budget allocation can be utilised for fuelling the growth of the startup ecosystem in Kerala" at Startup Village in Kochi on Saturday.
He said that apart from providing 2 GB free Internet connectivity to the Startup Village, the government will soon provide 100 startup boxes to the young entrepreneurs in the state.
"The new building coming up in Startup Village, with a built up space of two lakh sq ft, will be completed soon and it will have around 1,000 young entrepreneurs working from it," he said.
Infosys Co-founder and Startup Village Chief Mentor Kris Gopalakrishnan said the Startup Village at Kalamassery near Kochi was a unique model in the world and it provided the right ambience for youngsters to grow which was not the case some decades ago.
"Today, there is technology and government to help youngsters who are willing to start a business. One only needs to put in their imagination to make the business successful.
It is an amazing time in India to start a business as you have the right talent and market available within the country," he said.