Younger startups in India are now disrupting the normal: MoS IT

NEW DELHI: The centre of gravity of technology is finally moving to open source systems and younger startups in India are now disrupting the normal, Minister of State for Electronics and IT, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, said on Thursday.

Addressing the G20 ‘Digital Innovation Alliance’ summit in Bengaluru, the Minister said that three trends are happening that are of interest to startups which are part of the innovation economy.

“The centre of gravity of tech, which used to be in a few countries and centred around a few companies is moving to open source systems and younger and younger startups are disrupting the normal,” he told the gathering.

“These trends are, in turn, capitalising on the broader trend of increased digitisation and faster digitisation that is happening in the country,” the Minister added.

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the expansion of the Digital India programme with an outlay of Rs 14,903 crore.

Minister for Railway, Electronics and IT Ashwini Vaishnaw said that 6.25 lakh IT professionals will be re-skilled and up-skilled under FutureSkills Prime programme.

The Digital India programme was first launched in 2015 by the Centre and now under its ambit, 2.65 lakh people will be trained in information security under the information security and education awareness phase programme.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, addressing the nation on the 77th Independence Day, hailed the startup ecosystem in the country which is the third largest globally.

“Our policies are giving more power to youth strength. Their strength has helped India become the third-largest startup ecosystem in the world," Prime Minister Modi emphasised.

As of April this year, 98,119 entities had been recognised as startups by the government.