Rajnath Singh links startups with India's strategic military advantage

India’s strategic advantage is irrevocably linked to self-reliance in military arms production, the Defence Minister said on Friday.

Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said India’s strategic advantage is irrevocably linked to self-reliance in military arms production.

Speaking at the Startup Manthan 2021 at Aero India, Singh highlighted the importance of startups and MSMEs in maintaining the country’s critical advantage.

“Our government is conscious that startups being the latest in trends in the defence manufacturing sector require that extra push,” he said.

He said that the government had taken steps to foster and encourage partnerships with private industry, such as opening up labs and facilities at the DRDO to private industry and setting up young scientists in niche technology areas programmes such as the Innovation for Defence Excellence (iDEX), a start-up ecosystem, with this in view.

Singh said that the dividends of this investment of support had yielded results. The iDex ecosystem has more than 41,000 startups enabling 4.7 lakh jobs today, he added.

The minister said that some Rs 4,500 crore of investment has been made in 384 startups through the funding scheme. “It will not be an exaggeration to say that our economy is soon going to be driven by the startup trends.”

Singh added that these 300-plus startups had developed products worth Rs 300 crore, displayed in Aero India. Among them was a high-altitude, solar power stratospheric high altitude pseudo satellite unmanned platform created by the Bengaluru and new Delhi-based startup NewSpace Research and Technologies, he said. In addition, “Forty-five
MSMEs which have participated in Aero India, have already got work worth Rs 203 crore,” he said.

One of the key trend changes in recent years, which have brought startups to the fore, according to Raj Kumar, secretary, Defence Production, are how military personnel are increasingly developing technological solutions to bridge gaps or deficits they have observed in the military.

“The participants were previously from the other side of the fence. Now, the ideas are being drawn from the ground,” Kumar said.