Karnataka government is the first customer for startups: Priyank Kharge

The Karnataka government has become the first customer for startups, said Priyank Kharge, Minister of Electronics, Information Technology & Biotechnology, and Rural Development & Panchayat Raj, Government of Karnataka, at the TechSparks 2025 summit in Bengaluru.

In a fireside chat with YourStory Founder and CEO Shradha Sharma, the Minister added, “We are taking submissions from the startups and also buying their products."

He also highlighted the policies initiated by the government to enrich the startup ecosystem in the state.

“A good thing about our government is that we listen, understand and try to figure out how to solve the problem,” the Minister emphasised, adding, “One of the reasons why we are such a prosperous state is because all our policies are drafted by listening; it's a collaborative and participatory process.”

Kharge highlighted some of the key policies undertaken by the Karnataka government to encourage the growth of the startup ecosystem. The Elevate programme, for example, has provided equity-free grants to over 1,000 startups so far. Further, among the startups that registered with the government for this programme, 28% of them are women founders and 32% are from Tier II cities.

The Karnataka government now also wants to extend the reach of the startup ecosystem beyond Bengaluru. The Minister said the Rs 1,000 crore local economic acceleration programme aims to set up centres of excellence across different parts of the State.

These would include laboratories, incubators, accelerators and policy to set up nano GCCs. Kharge said a Danish company is setting up a GCC centre in Mangaluru. Essentially, the government is looking to create startup clusters in Karnataka's Tier II cities.

At the same time, the Karnataka government has decided to create a separate ecosystem for deeptech. It has already announced a Rs 600 crore fund to support deeptech startups in the state to become the leading destination for such technologies not just in the country but also in Asia.

The Minister said these measures would decongest Bengaluru and also decentralise innovation.

At the end, Kharge highlighted that the policies of the government are participatory in nature, as otherwise one might end up with wrong policies that will finally result in crippling innovation. “We might fail but at least we should be trying,” he remarked.