Govt sets up council to promote entrepreneurs

Tribune News Service 

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today announced the setting up of an “Entrepreneurship Council” for promotion of entrepreneurship, especially targeting small and medium businesses, and creation of jobs on a large scale in the national Capital. 

The council will be an advisory body with a mandate to give recommendations to the city government pertaining to developing a suitable policy framework for all micro-entrepreneurs, small and medium scale enterprises, new-age start-ups as well as large businesses.

The council will comprise mainly the members from industries and businesses and it will work under the aegis of the Dialogue and Development Commission of Delhi (DDC).

Noting that the move is towards making the business friendly as promised by his party in its manifesto, Kejriwal said, “Existing mechanisms have to be simplified and some new policies have to be formulated. These businessmen know what problems their fraternity faces in doing business. Likewise the angel investors dealing with start-ups on a routine basis know the needs for the same. The council will try to submit its report in three months.”

The patron of the eight-member council is Industry Minister Satyendra Jain, while the chairman will be Naukri.com founder Sanjeev Bikhchandani.

“The idea behind this council is to convey to the government on how to create an environment friendly for entrepreneurship. It is not just about technology start-ups by IITs or IIMs but about inclusive entrepreneurship. Our aim is to promote bottom-of-the-pyramid entrepreneurship and it could be a street vendor or a local shopkeeper,” Bikhchandani said. 

Kejriwal noted that there are people from across the sector and not just IT sector while adding that the Delhi government would seek all required help from the central government in this direction.

The roadmap for setting up of the council was earlier submitted to the Chief Minister by the DDC vice-chairman Ashish Khetan.

The approach will be first to get feedback from existing business and entrepreneurs in Delhi through face-to- face meetings, field visits and focused group discussions to understand what must be done to improve business environment in Delhi.