Hyderabad: To instil the spirit of entrepreneurship early in life and encourage an innovative mindset among the youth, all the universities in the country must consider setting up incubation centres for students, Vice President Venkaiah Naidu said on Tuesday while addressing the inaugural session of the TiE Global Summit-2020 virtually.
He pointed out that universities need to establish close-linkages with industries to mentor and handhold students with novel business ideas and corporates must also provide funding support to help students take their ideas to the next level. He said it is important to encourage students to become job creators and not job seekers. And to do so, all the stakeholders will have work towards creating an apt ecosystem that nurtures entrepreneurship, he added.
Naidu also highlighted the importance of encouraging women entrepreneurs and said that entrepreneurial countries in the world are also not just prosperous but also happier. “When entrepreneurs succeed, they create economic opportunity not only for Indians but for people all over the world,” he added. Union minister of road transport & highways and MSMEs Nitin Gadkari too urged global investors to invest in India because the country is one of the fastest-growing economies and has young talent.
Gadkari said the government is working towards empowering village industries and increasing their overall turnover from the current Rs 80,000 crore to Rs 5 lakh crore in the next two years.
On MSMEs, he pointed out that they contribute nearly 30% to the country’s GDP and the government is making efforts to increase its share to 40% over the next five years.
He also pointed out that MSMEs contribute 48% to overall exports and this can be increased to 60% by 2025. On the job creation front, he highlighted that MSMEs have created over 11 crore jobs so far and can add another five crore new jobs in the next five years.