Industry stakeholders hail inclusion of startups as part of G20 Delhi Declaration

NEW DELHI — The Indian startup ecosystem stakeholders on Sunday hailed the inclusion of startups as part of the Delhi Declaration for the first time in the history of G20.

India has taken the initiative to launch the Startup20 Engagement Group during its G20 Presidency.

“We are glad that Brazil has picked up the mandate to continue the Startup20 Engagement group into their presidency next year. We look forward to working on implementing the Startup20 recommendations over the next couple of years,” said Rajan Anandan, Managing Director of leading venture capital Peak XV (formerly Sequoia Capital India and SEA).

One of the most significant recommendations is that every G20 nation should invest 1 per cent of their GDP into startups by 2030.

“This will add up to $1 trillion per year of startup funding across the G20 nations,” said Anandan, who is also Co-Chair of the Finance Taskforce of the Startup20 Engagement Group.

Startup20 is the first of its kind official engagement group initiated under the Indian presidency of the G20 2023.

The Startup20 Engagement Group would create a global narrative for supporting startups and enabling synergies between startups, corporates, investors, innovation agencies and other key ecosystem stakeholders.

“Startups are driving innovation on a global scale, and these emerging entrepreneurs necessitate a specialised platform to facilitate regulatory ease, cross-border partnerships, technology policy, and the cultivation of global synergies among key stakeholders within the ecosystem,” Dr Ritesh Malik, Director, Alliance for Digital India Foundation (ADIF), a think tank for India’s digital startups, told IANS.

“Innovation will play a pivotal role in addressing the world’s pressing global challenges, such as climate change, unemployment, cybersecurity, poverty, pollution, and the like,” he added.

Startup20 India will operate through Task Forces which are structured to develop key priorities and bring forward the topics in which recommendations would be formulated to support the startup ecosystems globally.

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