New Delhi: The Delhi government on Saturday kickstarted the consultation process for drafting a policy to make the national capital one of the top five start-up destinations in the world. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who interacted with a panel of industry leaders and young entrepreneurs, said an online forum will be launched to get inputs from the general public. "With the new policy, we aim to make Delhi one of the top five global destinations for start-ups. The policy will aim to accelerate the growth of start-ups and transform the city to the most friendly place in India for start-ups," he said. The objective of the draft policy is to support entrepreneurs and build a robust economic and policy infrastructure that will create new jobs and bring new competitive dynamics into the current economic system, the Delhi government said in a statement. The industry leaders who joined the interaction included Ajai Chowdhry, co-founder of HCL; Rajan Anandan, MD Sequoia Capital; Padmaja Ruparel, co-founder, Indian Angel Network; and young entreprenuers like Sriharsha Majety, co-founder and CEO of Swiggy; Farid Ahsan, co-founder, ShareChat; Suchita Salwan among others. Right since my IIT days, I have seen some of the most brilliant minds from India go abroad for better opportunities. I believe Indians are the smartest entrepreneurs in the world and all they need is the right opportunity and right conditions to help them thrive," Kejriwal said. The Delhi government will soon release the draft start-up policy and launch an online forum to seek inputs from the general public on it, the statement said. Referring to a 2019 report from TiE, Kejriwal highlighted that with over 7,000 start-ups, Delhi has the highest number of active start-ups in the country. He said the valuation of the citys start-ups is about USD 50 billion, the statement said. "The report states that Delhi-NCR is set to become one of the top five global start-up hubs with 12,000 start-ups, 30 unicorns, and a cumulative valuation of about USD 150 billion by 2025, it said. Delhi, being the national capital, is a hub of education, industries and many prestigious institutions. In the last few years, the start-up ecosystem here has amassed a plethora of opportunities for budding entrepreneurs, the statement added. Welcoming the initiative, Rajan Anandan, MD Sequoia Capital said, "The NCR is already the largest start-up region in India and within NCR, Delhi has the most number of start-ups. The discussion was very good with many points raised on what will take Delhis start-up ecosystem to the next level.

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