KDEM expects state's digital economy to hit $300 billion by 2025

The Karnataka Digital Economy Mission (KDEM) chief executive officer (CEO) Sanjeev Kumar Gupta said that Mangaluru is projected as a Fintech hub, and the Fintech Task Force will submit a road map of the industry’s growth to the government.

Gupta, interacting with reporters during the Mangaluru Technovanza organised at the Dr T M A Pai International Convention Centre on Friday, said the report will have what needs to be done for developing a Fintech hub.

The KDEM aims for Karnataka’s digital economy to hit 300 billion dollars by 2025. It aims to create talent pool to fulfil the requirements of at least 5,000 new startups across the tech clusters in Karnataka.

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“We want to reach the goal of 10 billion dollar worth of exports from these clusters in Mangaluru, Mysuru and Hubballi,” he added.

Women at work

The women workforce has come down post Covid-19. The KDEM is complementing efforts of corporate programmes to attract women to the workforce by fostering a startup ecosystem that generates employment, improves market access, allows for infrastructure upgrades and policy implementation. Further, the KDEM will be hosting regional shark tanks and women at work initiatives at cluster markets to provide opportunities for the startups and women-led platforms a chance to accelerate their growth. He said under the government’s Elevate initiative of the Department of Information Technology and Biotechnology, 30 per cent of the applications under the scheme for startups have come from women. He said the KDEM has focussed on initiatives for startups and has onboarded 400 startups under its key initiative of Beyond Bengaluru Startup Grid. Shylaja Rao, general partner of Ventana Ventures, said we should increase women employability in various sectors through skill enhancement and skill upgradation.

Karnataka State Handicrafts Development Corporation (KSHDC) managing director Roopa D Moudgil said women artisans are offered skill development training in developing new designs for artifacts to suit the modern taste and marketing skill.

To encourage the growth of small artisans and weavers, artifacts from Cauvery Handicrafts Emporium is made available online through Amazon and Flipkart. Good response is seen for online sale of artifacts, she said.