Govt's Immediate Steps Ensured Startups Were Not Impacted By SVB Crisis: Ashwini Vaishnaw

The government's immediate action to assist Indian startups in the wake of Silicon Valley Bank's (SVB) collapse ensured they were not negatively impacted by the “minor crisis,” Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Monday.

He also urged the entire startup community to consider the Indian banking industry as a reliable partner.

Vaishnaw, Minister of Information Technology and Communications, also emphasised India's fast progress in artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum computing.

Speaking at the India worldwide Forum, the Minister stated that while India was once thought to be only a consumer of technology, “many global developers like to have Indian start-ups, entrepreneurs, and academicians as their partners, as technology develops.”

“... We would like to use Indian talent in these two technologies to develop solutions for India and the world,” he said.

In response to a question about whether India can create something comparable to ChatGPT, the Minister stated, “Wait a few weeks, there will be a big announcement.” According to the Minister, it is critical for the world economy to have a reliable partner like India.

There is a widespread belief that India should emerge as a key semiconductor manufacturing location, according to Vaishnaw, who added that the government is working “sincerely and diligently” to establish a thriving semiconductor ecosystem in the country.

The Minister went on to say that following the collapse of SVB, the government swung into action to help Indian start-ups with money or deposits in the bank.

“How we responded to that minor crisis was to immediately engage with the entire start-up community and ensure that whatever deposits they wanted to shift to Indian banks... the entire process was flawlessly executed by collaboration between different arms of government,” he said.

The “minor crisis” had no negative impact on any new businesses, according to the Minister, who described the Indian banking sector as resilient and with a sound balance sheet.

“We have requested that all start-ups do not consider putting their funds in any bank anywhere other than India. And I will ask everyone in the global start-up community to consider India as their trusted banking industry,” he said.

Vaishnaw urged global entrepreneurs and innovators across industries to use India's competitive advantage to create trusted technology for the nation and the world.

During testing, India's 4G/5G stack delivered outstanding outcomes, according to Vaishnaw.

“The rollout has begun. We will be rolling out 300 sites per day of this India's own telecom technology stack starting in September,” he said.