Virtual summit on startups to boost India-US growth to be held

Amid the coronavirus pandemic, a top India-centric business advocacy group on Wednesday announced to host a virtual summit to brainstorm how startups can fuel the future of growth and opportunity between India and the United States.

The agenda for annual West Coast Summit by US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) focuses on the key pillars defining the US-India economic convergence, specifically how startups, innovation, and entrepreneurship will define the next phase of growth for the bilateral relations, and highlight the unique relationship between Silicon Valley and India, a media statement said.

To be held virtually, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the power packed summit among others would be addressed by India's Ambassador to the US, Taranjit Singh Sandhu, among others.

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The West Coast Summit is an opportunity to bring together like-minded individuals who see startups as the future of growth and opportunity in the US-India corridor, said Mukesh Aghi, USISPF President and CEO.

He said it is a well-known fact that India tops among the list of immigrant founders who have started billion dollar companies in the United States.

Many of these are startups that were founded in India and have moved to the United States, successfully handled market transitions and as an end result, created thousands of well paying jobs in both countries, he said.

The virtual summit will also be addressed by Keith Krach, Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment, and founders of various startups, including Uniphore, FreshWorks, Mindtickle, and CherryCloud (CISCO).

Recently, the Karnataka government postponed the Global Investors Meet (GIM) planned in November this year by a few months following inadequate preparations due to the COVID-19 induced lockdown.

MSME minister Jagadish Shettar said the government had initiated preparations for hosting the three-day GIM, slated from November 3, but could not take up pre-event activities thereafter in the last two-and-half months due to 'stay-at-home' restrictions following the pandemic.

The Minister said the government would decide in June-July on the new dates of the GIM.

(Disclaimer: Additional background information has been added to this PTI copy for context)