Jitendra Singh calls for greater support for non

Jitendra Singh calls for greater support for non-metro startups

New Delhi: Union Minister of State for Science & Technology Dr Jitendra Singh on Sunday called for a systematic shift in how India nurtures its startup ecosystem, arguing that nearly 60 per cent of the country’s startups operate outside major metropolitan centres and deserve institutional backing equal to that of their metro-based counterparts.

Addressing the sixth RISE Conclave inaugural session in Kolkata, Singh said scientific institutions must proactively reach out to innovators in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities rather than expecting them to migrate to established technology hubs.

The minister called on industry to commercialise indigenous technologies emerging from laboratories, noting that the Rs 1 lakh crore Research, Development and Innovation Fund represents government’s commitment to high-risk innovation partnerships.

“Young innovators from smaller cities are increasingly matching and, in several cases, excelling their counterparts in bigger cities,” Singh said, underscoring the need for stronger institutional linkages between science research, startups, and industry.

The two-day conclave, organised by four CSIR laboratories and hosted at CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, has generated eight memorandum of understanding alongside four technology transfer agreements, two product launches, and one facility inauguration.