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The Rajasthan government has approved the new Rajasthan Startup Policy 2022 to increase job opportunities in the state by promoting industrial investment, among other measures.
Ashok Gehlot, Chief Minister, Rajasthan
The Policy will be launched at the Rajasthan DigiFest (11th-13th November 2022), being held in Jodhpur to encourage entrepreneurship among the state’s youth.
The approval came following a cabinet meeting headed by Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot at his residence on Wednesday. The new Policy aims to benefit various startups, entrepreneurial students, rural businesses and institutional incubation centres. “The state will witness more opportunities for investment and employment generation, besides a major boost to industrial development,” stated the government.
The announcement to implement the Policy was first made during the state Budget Session 2020-21, in an effort to promote iStart, the flagship program of the state government’s IT and communication department to foster innovation, create jobs and facilitate investment in Rajasthan.
iStart is a unique single-window resource for startups, investors, incubators, accelerators and mentors working at the idea and early stages and with startups with MVP (Minimal Viable Product). The platform facilitates startups to connect with over 100 investors and has reportedly disbursed INR 9.5 crore in startup funding since August 2021.
The upcoming Rajasthan DigiFest aims to bring the state’s youth, startups, investors, corporates, partners and academia on one stage, facilitating collaboration between the government and the public at large. In addition to the launch of the new startup policy, the two-day event will also witness an IT job fair, a startup expo, the inauguration of incubation centres in Jodhpur and Pali and the ground-breaking of the Rajiv Gandhi Fintech Digital Institute.
Over the last few years, the Rajasthan government has been working to promote the state’s startup ecosystem with such measures as the Bhamashah Techno Fund, for instance, to give an “open sky” to potential startups in the state.