Top Indian Startup Founders Were Invited To Witness PM Modi’s Swearing In Live

OfficeChai Team

India is fast-emerging as a global startup hub, but there’s often debate around whether it is because of the government’s policies, or in spite of them. But whatever role the government might have had in creating India’s flourishing startup ecosystem, one thing is certain — startups are now very much on the government’s radar.

Several prominent Indian entrepreneurs were invited to the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi second term. This might have been the first time in India’s history that first-generation startup founders were able to witness the Prime Minister take oath to the highest office in the land. Among those invited was Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma, who shared several updates from Rashtrapati Bhawan. “The one and only Prime Minister of India. What an electrifying environment here,” he tweeted.

Also invited was InMobi founder and CEO Naveen Tewari, who shared a picture of his invitation card. “Historic day for all of us as we celebrate the outcome of the largest democratic process on the planet,” he tweeted from the event.

Also among the invitees was Zerodha founder Nithin Kamath. Zerodha has never raised external capital, but has become India’s largest stock broker, and Kamath is now worth over a billion dollars. “Feeling honoured to be acknowledged, invited, and attend the swearing in ceremony of our PM and council of ministers. Now to get back and do more as a business for the country,” he wrote.

The business that startup founders have done over the last few years has clearly not gone unnoticed by the government. Startups have created millions of jobs across India, right in functions right from software development, analytics, and AI, to logistics jobs such as those for delivery personnel and warehouse management functions. The government clearly sees startups as a way to create employment in the country, and has been doing its bit to help out. In 2016, the government had launched the Startup India program, through which it would aid the growth of startups, and more recently, has acceded to entrepreneurs’ requests to streamline the angel tax process that had so worried young companies. A lot more remains to be done, especially in areas of easing regulations and simplifying business processes, but the invites to top startup founders to PM Modi’s swearing in shows that the new government is keen on working with startups, and willing to acknowledge the contributions they’ve made in building what PM Modi repeatedly calls his New India.