MANISH GUPTA
Ranchi, July 9: The Jharkhand Information Technology Department will soon sign a deal with XLRI Xavier School of Management in Jamshedpur to revive the startup ecosystem which it had built in the initial years after launch of Jharkhand Startup Policy in 2016.
“We are planning to sign an MoU with XLRI to take consultancy support for the revival of Atal Bihari Vajpayee Innovation Lab (ABVIL), which was set up to promote the growth of startups in the state,” said DS Verma, Project Manager, Jharkhand IT department.
ABVIL was set up in collaboration with IIM Ahmedabad for a period of three years for the implementation of the startup policy and its tenure ended in December 2019. For more than two years, the entire 2020 and 2021, the lab remained non-functional.
For the period ABVIL was functioning, the startups in the state had some initial success and Jharkhand was bestowed with Aspiring Leaders award in the all India ranking of states for building the startup ecosystem for two consecutive years of 2018 and 2019.
However, the Jharkhand government has recommitted itself for building the startup ecosystem. On one hand, while it is in the final stages of announcing its next startup policy, the government is building the infrastructure for its immediate execution.
ABVIL, which did not have a CEO for more than two years since October 2019, finally got a new CEO in IT Director Manoj Kumar a few months back. ABVIL does the first stage of screening of ideas and then recommends them to the IT department.
“We have drafted the MoU to be signed with XLRI and it has got the IT Minister Hemant Soren’s approval as well. Now we just need the clearance from the legal department and then the date for signing the deal will be announced,” said Verma.
The ABVIL Board under the chairmanship of Jharkhand Chief Secretary will soon have a meeting for recruiting a team for the lab, which once had a 24-seater incubation centre with mentoring and nurturing from the faculties of IIM Ahmedabad deputed here.
“The basic ecosystem for startups has already been built in the state. We just need to get the lab functional and enforce the new policy. The marketing assistance fund for products will start immediately,” he said, adding that startups can be a major tool for employment generation at a mass level.
