Kerala aims to have 15,000 startups by 2026: CM Pinarayi Vijayan
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said here on Saturday that Kerala is working towards increasing the number of startups four times in the next five years to take their total number to 15,000. He said this after inaugurating a pioneering digital hub by Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM). The state-of-the-art digital hub set up by KSUM is considered to be the largest product development center in South Asia as it occupies over 2 lakh square feet of built-up space. It has a Design Incubator, Healthcare Incubator, Center of Excellence (CoE) for Mauser Electronics, Co-working Space, Design Studio, Investor Hive and an Innovation Centre. Vijayan said, “To realize the plan of 15,000 startups, the government will set up technology labs and incubators which will play a vital role for nascent firms to transform the state into a knowledge society.”
“We take particular note that paucity of funds should not come in the way of turning a brilliantly innovative idea into a marketing reality,” said Vijayan. KSUM provides interest free loans to startups. Venture funding will be made available with a corpus of Rs 750 crore. Apart from this, venture capital of Rs 250 crore is estimated from financial institutions like Kerala Bank, KSIDC, KFC and KSFE. Industries Minister P. Rajeev said that the government is committed to take forward its schemes to encourage young entrepreneurs of the state. Rajiv said, we are focusing on the semiconductor sector and are in talks with Belgian companies. KSUM, established in 2006, is the nodal agency of the state for entrepreneurship development and incubation activities.
